Soul Poison
by VonOfVampira
Summary: This is a FF7 & Bleach fanfic. Raised from the lessons of hard knox, Gabriel is born into a world of shinigami and Hollows. Writing the spirits off as phamtoms, he finds out a secret that changes his life. more descriptive summary inside.
1. Warzone

_Note: hello, this is my first story on fanfiction and I'm glad to premere bleach as my first fancfiction chapter. This story is mostly like a spin-off where as these events happen in the same world as Bleach, but at a different time and place with a new cast of characters. DON'T BE DISCOURAGED, it's most likely that some of your famous and most beloved characters (from Bleach) will make cameos and team ups with the main character. Peace and enjoy!_

"This is Channel 10 News and I'm Levor Johnson. Just a few minutes ago a series of unexplained explosions crippled the downtown area. As you can see this whole street along with the buildings has been completely demolished. If I'm not mistaken, there used to be a parking deck on my right and I can't even tell what used to be there on the left. All that's left now are giant piles of rubble. There has been speculation on terrorist, but nothing's conclusive."

The ground started to shake and two blocks away a five story building crumbles away. Giant claw marks sliced into the street and parked cars flipped over into the sky crashing down like meteors. Off in the distance, what seemed as a high pitch screech became a glass shattering shockwave. Large crowds of frighten pedestrians clawed and stampeded one another trying to get as far away as possible. Some were dropping dead for no reason as if the life was sucked out of them leaving more corpses to be trampled beyond recognition. One unfortunate girl was standing alone on the sidewalk, crying out for her parents, but her cry was drowned out by a million more.

"Get out the way girl," somebody shouted. "It's not-" and before he could finish his sentence, a flying car plowed into her exploding on impact. "NOOO!! God damn you bastard!!!!" he shouted.

As the smoke started to cloud over the city, in the sky floating above the burning wreckage was a young man dressed in a black robe. He winced before the flaming wreckage holding his head in agony blaming himself for not being faster. Tears begin to envelope around his eyes and drip down into the pit of massacre. Blood trickled down his wrist as he gripped his 4 ft long broadsword. His sword had a red aura about itself and a black hand cannon for a hilt. Red energy steamed from his body as if all his hate, pain and anguish had been sealed up inside ready to boil over at any moment. His skin was bronze with short jet black hair that was combed forward. He was 6'2 and athletic. There was a deep scar slashed diagonally between his eyes breaching his right cheek. His eyes were two different colors, hazel and the other one glowing blood red and even more so as the battle became more intense.

Out of nowhere, a gigantic deformed hand with a jet white exoskeleton smashed him into the street sending a massive shockwave scattering all the frighten pedestrians to the ground. This sent the crowd into a hysteric frenzy. Anybody that laid on the ground too long was trampled. It was very clear that it was 'every man, women and child for themselves.' Water from a broken fire hydrate spewed out causing a raining effect. From two blocks away, Levor Johnson and his cameraman started to make their way through the crowd. The cameraman tripped over a detached fire hydrate smashing his head into the step-off of the sidewalk. Blood poured from his head. Levor snatched the camera from his hands.

"Help me, Levor," the cameramen whispered.

Levor looked at him, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as ran off. "This story is going to make my career," he said with a sadistic smile. "Don't worry, by the time this is over, you'll be immortal." As he made his way from the sidewalk knocking everybody out the way with his heavy news camera, he disappeared into the dust and debris of the danger zone.

A few feet ahead of him of laid a 20 ft tall Hollow. The Hollow had a spider-like body with a humanoid torso. One arm was crab-like and the other a deformed muscular arm trying to crush a guy in the black robe. His head was encased in a crab-like helmet only revealing his piercing white eyes.

"Gabriel, you humans are a curious kind," laughed the Hollow looking down at Levor.

"Why won't you just leave in peace," Gabriel said in an air tight voice.

"Because, I'm hungry."

As Levor Johnson got closer, he cut on his camera and started to record. "As you can see, ITS BLOODY FREAKIN MAYHEM. People are trampling one another just to get away. Children were abandoned and some of them trampled themselves. Today is a very dark day for mankind. It seems another explosion has gone off."

"Run dammit, get away," Gabriel shouted under the hand of the gigantic demon.

The Hollow laughed. "He can't hear or see you no more than you can help yourself." Instead of the demon opening his mouth, his neck ripped open. The opening of his neck was like a second mouth, but full of razor sharp teeth. Energy collected around the opening of his neck. "Cero"

"Nooo!!" shouted Gabriel.

As the blast shot from its neck, it smashed into the ground exploding in a big ball of light. If you ever heard the sound of a thousand people dying all at once, it is a sound that will haunt you forever. A blinding light engulfed the entire downtown area. Gabriel was forced to close his eyes, but when he opened them again, half of downtown was obliterated. Nothing was left, except for a giant crater.

"I failed," Gabriel cried to himself

The blast was so strong; the people probably didn't know that they were dead. Under the rubble and the crushed remains, the ghost of the dead rose up. They were scared and confused. As they looked around with wide eyes, they made a cruel discovery; they were no more. This unfair realization made them cried out and moaned. So many dreams and desires crushed into powder. There's only one why for a spirit to turn into a Hollow on its own, die suddenly and fester in anger. A hollow is nothing but a spirit turned evil by its own hatred and self-pity. Thousands of ghostly moans turned into demonic screeching. The sound was so great Gabriel's ears begun to bleed. They begun to morph and change into something so evil and so vast in numbers, Gabriel laid his head down in shame. The newly turned hollows surrounded him while he was still being crashed under a gigantic hand.

"This is the path you chose substitute soul reaper," the hollow laughed. "And this is the fate you shall reap."

"They were innocent," Gabriel cried.

"Nothing is innocent," the monster corrected.

"That little girl was innocent," he said with anger building up in his voice.

"She's not innocent either," the monster chided with a deep booming demonic voice.

"And I was too weak to protect them." The Hollow only replied with a soft laugh. "I hate all you damn Hollows," Gabriel said as tears enveloped around his eyes. "Damn you. Damn you. Damn you! DAMN ALL OF YOU!" His body started to glow with red spirit energy. The monster's hand started to shake and burn, but he refuse to release him from under his grip. Slowly but surely the monster's hand was being forced open.

"Where is he getting this strength from?" the Hollow thought to himself. Suddenly blood started spraying from the monster's hand. He screeched in pain. Half of his forearm was cut in half thorugh the middle. A giant X was slashed through the Hollow's seemingly indestructible exoskeleton-like armor on his chest. Blood sprayed out profusely. A reverse roundhouse kick met the Hollow's ribs sending him flying backwards a few yards, but he flip over landing on his feet.

"Alright, Nagareboshi (Shooting Star)," Gabriel said while holding his sword upright. Blue energy started to collect around the barrow of the hand cannon hilt. It became as large as a wrecking ball, but compacted down to the size of a basketball. "Suisei (Comet)!"

The blue energy ball shot out toward the hollow cracking the ground underneath. Gabriel was sent colliding into the building behind him by the recoil. The blast from Gabriel's Nagareboshi collided the demon into the building 200 ft behind him making a giant hole. Shaking and trembling, the building collapsed on top of the demon burying him. There was no trace of the Hollow underneath all the rubble.

Gabriel tried to pry himself off the wall, but was too weak to move. "I shouldn't have tried that attack," he said wincing in pain. "Urahara was right, I haven't yet mastered it."

Across the street, the rubble that used to be a Hollow, a pebble bounced into the gutters. "No," Gabriel gasped. "Impossible."

The Hollow shot out of the rubble like an angry volcano. His eyes now glowing red with rage. Growls and screeches replaced his vocabulary. He spared no time for witty comments or milking the moment of Gabriel's helplessness. The Hollow had a gaping bloody hole in his chest and he wanted to share his new look. Gabriel looked just as bad; they were both covered head to toe in cuts and scratches.

The Hollow sprinted toward Gabriel with berserk-like rage. Gabriel was completely paralyzed. The demon grew seven times larger and all of his wounds healed up. The Hollow suddenly stopped only a couple of feet in front of him. It plowed its hands and feet into the ground as if they were stabilizers…and they were. Its neck opened up again with its razor sharp teeth and a ball of red energy collected around its second mouth. This cero was the size of a 3 story house and its reishi was on a completely different level than Gabriel. With no hesitation, it was fired.

Gabriel closed his eyes waiting for death to swoop him up. This was his punishment for being weak, but nothing happened. When he opened his eyes his heart almost leaped out of his chest. A mysterious muscular figure swatted the cero away with a thump of only one finger. "Hey Kenny, KENNY! I told you it was Gabriel, but you didn't believe me."

Gabriel was in a state of awe. He heard stories about Kenpachi Zaraki and how powerful he was. He wanted to make a good first impression by saying a witty comment but realized how ridiculous he looked, embedded into the wall… defeated. All those people died for nothing and were turned into hollows all because he was too weak to protect them. Gabriel never had the strength to protect others. He was never the hero type to begin with.

"Hey kid, now's not the time to feel sorry about yourself," Kenpachi said. "You can't dwell on the past. Consider yourself lucky, cuz you live to fight another day." Kenpachi turned toward the Hollow with a sadistic smile on his face. "And for you… that was a cowardly move. There's no reason attacking a downed or defeated opponent." Kenpachi looked around analyzing the damage. Gabriel's head fell in shame. Kenpachi drew his sword, but Gabriel interrupted before he could unsheathe it.

"Wait," Gabriel said prying himself off the wall. "I'm not done yet." His dominate hand was broken dripping with blood and he could barely stand. "For the honor of my Sakura, I shall kill every Hollow that will cross my path." Red spirit energy started to collect around his body. A mask appeared on top of his head and he slid it down to his face. The mask was in the shape of a red dragon. His eyes were the same, but more sinister and piercing than ever.

"I didn't want to attract more attention, but seeing how my honor in on the line, I might as well," Gabriel said. His voice sounded as if a dragon was speaking with him at the same time. His reishi was so intense it forced a bigger smile onto Kenpachi's face. The ground start to shutter and in one strike the Hollow was sliced to pieces along with everything behind him.

Kenpachi laughed to himself, "Impressive, but I wasn't drawin my sword to help. I was drawing a _Snickers_ bar. I haven't ate since breakfast. I knew you had more strength then that. Trust me I knew your mother. If you're as half as strong as she was-"

"You knew my mother?!?"

"Yes, I did. Sakura was a beautiful and a great hero. Not many women like her."

"Wow!!! Who fucked up?" a voice said in the background. Out of nowhere two guys appeared next to Kenpachi. It was Yumichika and Madarame. Madarame looked around shaking his head. "Damn, what the hell happened?"

"Don't mean to interrupt this touching reunion, but we still got to deal with the rest of the Hollows," Yumichika said.

"I would love to finish this conversation," Gabriel wheezed. His whole body started to shake and twitch. Nagareboshi fell out of his hands stabbing into the ground. "But it's time for me to sleep," he said collapsing to the ground. Lying on the ground, Kenpachi noticed something weird about him.

"What's this mark on his arm?" he asked. Madarame shrugged his shoulders.

Yumichika stepped in closer examining Gabriel's bicep. The mark on his arm was a tattoo of Urahara's face smiling and winking with a 'thumbs up' next to his face. "I'm assuming that this is the work of Urahara."

"What is it?" Kenpachi asked.

"It seems that it's a seal and a crude one at that.

"So most of his power was sealed away inside his body? A black butterfly flew past Kenpachi's face. His eyes flared up as he heard the good news. Kenpachi placed his hand over his face and laughed sadistically to himself. "Hehehehehe, this is going to be fun," he laughed.

"Yaaaay! Yaaaay," Yachiru said jumping up and down on Kenny's shoulder. "We're going on an adventure. Kenny won't be bored anymore. Maybe he'll be Gabriel's new playmate"

Kenpachi turned around and began to walk away. "Hey, what about Gabriel," Madarame shouted. "Weren't we here to bring him to the Soul Society?"

Kenpachi jolted his head around with a crazed look in his eye. "Leave him." Madarame knew whenever he had that look in his eye, there was no reason arguing.

"Shall we?" Madarame said with a grin.

Yumichika sighed to himself as if he dreaded the moment. "There're so many of them. Hmmm, sometimes this can be a real pain.

"Alright men! Let's show them why squad 11 is the most revered!" Out of nowhere a hundred men jumped from the shadows screaming battle cries. It was like a swarm of black bees shouting all at one.

The battle clashed for hours, while they fought on top of Gabriel's body. Hollows dissolved and battle cries were roared. All of squad 11 wondered where Captain Zaraki went to, but the battle was so fierce they couldn't dwell on it too long.

The battle ended 11:00 at night. Some of the soul reapers fainted from exhaustion. Madarame stood there on top of a collapsed building, sweaty and covered in scratches. His shirt was torn off with a few cuts and he had a sadistic smile on his face. "C'mon! Is that all you got? Is it me or are the hollows getting weaker," Madarame shouted.

Yumichika was on one knee, sweaty and dirty sighing in frustration. "Eight hours! Let's get the hell out of here before the reinforcements come. I need a hot bath."

"Stop whining, but seriously do you think more will show up if we wait?" A black butterfly flew past Madarame's face. His shoulder's dropped as he heard the bad news.

"What is it?" Yumichika asked.

"We have to go back for announcements."

"Thank God." Squad 11 made their way through the portal, but Madarame paused and looked back at Gabriel. Heavy rain fell from the sky bouncing off of his shiny head. In the distance, Yumichika waved his hand trying to get Madarame to hurry up.

They vanished without a trace leaving Gabriel in the middle of the bowl of the crater, left behind by the gigantic Hollow. His body was soaked and the wind made it worse.

_Get up sleepy head; get up_, a voice whispered in his ear_. It's time to wake up_. His only reply was a moan and a twitch. _GET UP!_ And with a mighty kick, Gabriel woke up with a start, but his face was completely submerged under a tiny puddle. A large rock was restricting his movements. It took a couple of tries but he finally toppled it off his back. When he came up for air, he coughed profusely. The rain poured over his head like a waterfall. A small warm light glowed in his face.

"Asumi, is that you?" Gabriel said in a tight voice, but the glowing warm light disappeared.

He slowly started to walk toward his sword, but collapsed again into the wet muddy ground. His hand twitched along with the rest of his body. Two hours later his hand gripped his sword and he slowly staggered to his feet. It was night and the rain flooded the area making a small pond around his feet. The hail beaded across his head and the wind almost tipped him over. It had to be at least 33 degrees.

With one foot in front of the other he made his way back to his old hideout. "I hope Mecca and Jimmy are better off than I am," he thought to himself. The mask still laid on top of his head like a helmet slightly glowing in the night air. His broken right arm was completely heal and most of his cut were gone. He looked into the night sky and above the openings in the cloud he could see a blanket of stars. Somehow he knew it was going to be a quiet night and quiet was good.

-

"Yo, where's Gabriel?" Jimmy said yarning.

"IDK, hope he's ok," Mecca said in a concerned voice.

Suddenly the door flew open and Gabriel stood there soaking wet. His piecing red eye was more sinister under the light of the kerosene lamp. "Listen up and listen well. I'm only going to tell you once and only once. So make sure you're paying attention, Jimmy… you too Mecca. The only reason why I'm telling you this is because you all are now involved. I didn't mean for this to happen, but since I can't turn back the wheels of time, I guess I owe you guys the simple truth, but I swear if you guys start to laugh…." Gabriel said punching his hand and grinding his teeth and shaking his head.

The small campfire glowed off their skin and the crumpled walls glistened. The roof had been replaced with a blue plastic sheet, but for some reason the floor had been sweep and the room was seemingly neat, but there was no broom. Mysteriously sweep floors and oddly neat rooms were the least of their problems. A slight cold draft blew by them often, but the warmth of the fire made it feel like a warm breeze.

The three of them sat close together around the campfire sticking their hands close to the flames. Gabriel sat on the right with his red mask twinkling in the light, Mecca in the middle and Jimmy sitting on the left.

Mecca was 5 feet with short black hair. She wore a black shirt, black jean, black fingernail polish, with black eyeliner and lipstick. Her figure was petite. From time to time she caught Jimmy looking at her from the side of his eyes. She classified that under Jimmy-being-weird file. Jimmy was tall and lanky with red hair. Gabriel would always call him 'left foot' because his left foot was shorter than the other and he was always stumbling over. Gabriel knew it is kind of mean but Jimmy never said anything about it.

"Dude, don't get so worked up. If those monsters-"

"Hollows," Gabriel corrected.

"Hollows come back, you can kill them easily," Jimmy said.

"You think Hollows are the most of our worries!" Gabriel sneered.

"Calm down," Mecca interrupted. "Just start from the beginning."

Gabriel sighed to himself trying to calm his nerves. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking and sweat keep pouring from his forehead. The last three days have been hell. Urahara sent him on a scavenger hunt for clues to find his body. It was punishment for his arrogance and totally lack of respect, he so-called it, but this little life lesson turned into a life or death quest. For some reason Hollows are only targeting him and guys dressed in _red_ robes are hunting him like enemy of the state. And to top it off they all know his name. Urahara told them to meet up with this man named Reno so he could give us clues for the mission. Reno saw what was going on. He told them how strong the men in red robes are, but nothing he could've said would've prepared them for the battle.

They always came when he least expect it and spared no expense in trying to take his life. It's about time for some peace and quiet, at least for a little while. They met each other three days ago and since then its been hell, on ice. For some strange reason, even though it was peaceful now, Gabriel knew it was about to get worse. That calm-before-the-storm feeling he's always whispers under his breath before something major pops off. Urahara, with his strange sense of humor, probably thought it was funny to placed them together on this quest. It had to do with the right combination or something like that. Neither of them knew the exact reasons why. The old man was probably right but they weren't going to say that. They shared a unique bond. Gabriel thought it had to do with them all going to the same high school, Dudley High.

Before they were placed on the same team, they always passed each other in school but never once talked to each other. Jimmy at times tried to talk to Mecca, but always chickened out or made a complete fool of himself. Neither of them wanted to talk to Gabriel. He had that psychotic look in his eyes that if you looked at him the wrong way, he would slit your throat without a second thought and his piercing red eye and the scar on his face didn't make him seem any friendlier. Back then he was always traveling with his gang of thugs, but not so much more now given with whats been going on the past week.

"Have you guys seen Asumi?" Gabriel asked with his head down to his knees and his hands steadily shaking.

"Who's Asumi?" they asked at the same time while looking at each other. For a while Gabriel went silent. Jimmy and Mecca both couldn't of possibly realize how much pressure and stress he was under. Not only was he struggling with his new gained powers, his old life is gone, he can't protect the ones he care about and now this. Gabriel reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a prescription bottle of Lithium.

"Antipsychotics?!?" Mecca yelled. "You're on that and Urahara put you as team leader. No wonder your ass has been acting crazy. You're a-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jimmy placed an arm on her shoulder and a hand over her mouth. "No that's for something else," he whispered in her ear. "I think he's bipolar.

"How do you know," she asked trying not to be freaked out. "You're not-"

"No," he said as he lightly jerked her by the shoulder. "My antie is bipolar and given the way he's been acting in school it makes sense. And besides if he is crazy do you want to aggitate him?"

"Ok, before I start make sure the windows are covered up securly," Gabriel said sounding a little more composed.

"Damn that medicine works fast," Mecca said than quickly putting her hand over her mouth.

Jimmy looked at Mecca signaling her to cover up the window. She gave him a nervous look than clumsily walked toward the window stumbling over bookbags and her own shoe laces. The board over the window was sturdy. "It's secure," Mecca said.

"Aye, man what happen to those guys in those black robes," Jimmy said indicating him to begin.

"I'll get to that," Gabriel sneered.

"Ok, ok," Jimmy said in a air tight voice.

"Alright, it all started….."


	2. The First Contact pt 1

"Gabriel, wake up!" a voice said. "Someone please get that boy up." Everybody look at Mr. Lee, the history 101 teacher, with nervous expressions. Nooobody want to get on Gabriel's bad side, not even the principle. Mr. Lee was up there in years, but was a newly transferred teacher; supposedly from the roughest toughest school in the district and most importantly Dudley High's rivals. Mr. Lee had a god-complex in his classroom. "I rule with an iron pen," or some shit like that some would students mock. The truth was that he was too ignorant and self-important to be scared of Gabriel.

"Dammit, children," he snarled. "Don't be afraid of this inbreed." With a giant-for-no-reason size history in his hand, he slammed it down on Gabriel's desk. Even though they saw what Mr. Lee was doing, the sound of the book slamming against the desk startled everyone and woke up anybody else who was half-way sleep.

Gabriel woke with a start, roaring at the top of his lungs. His face turned red with veins bulging from his forehead. This scared everyone to pieces. Some students neighboring him fell out of their seats. Mr. Lee yelped like a choked kitten. Gabriel slowly rose from his chair, walking toward Mr. Lee with an upset demented expression. His blood red piercing eye full of hate and malice and the deep scar between his eyes complemented the legends about himself. Instead of ripping the teacher to ribbons like everyone expected, he left the classroom leaving his daunting presence to soak into their being.

To make themselves look tough, his followers slowly walked out of the room milking the moment. Mr. Lee stood there trying hard not to shake, but than calmed himself so he could hide the foot that was shoved in his mouth. He walked slowly to his chair trying to put on a tough brovado. "Well, class that's why they invented jail," he said trying to sound witty while squeezing this statement under his breath. "And the insane asylum." Some people made a nervous laugh, but quickly fizzled out.

Outside the classroom Gabriel made his way down the hallway. His followers were cheering him on telling him how scary and badass he was, but he wasn't listening to there incessant chatting. His mind was somewhere else. Somewhere far away where no one knew his name and where adventure is never ending.

"Hey Gabriel you plan on making this gang official," one person said tapping on his shoulder. Gabriel growled as he touched him. His head turned slowly as his train of thought was broken. The look in his eyes indicated everyone to shut up or else… or else is really bad. The guy paled. Gabriel was known for lashing out on people for no apparent reason.

Before Gabriel was able to exit the school, he saw a short petite Japanese lady dressed in black robes standing outside the entrance talking on her cell phone. She had pale skin, purplish eyes, and a stray bang between them. Her appearance caught Gabriel by surprise. He stood there staring at her as she stared at him. Gabriel knew about cosplay conventions in Japan via internet, but never would've thought to see somebody dress in costume; here of all places.

"Hey, look at the lady in that costume," Gabriel said pointing at her. Everybody went quiet as a lamb. "Ya'll don't see that Japanese lady standing outside in black robes," he said sounding a little more urgent now.

"Yeeeeaaaah," one guy said playing along coming across as patronizing which angered him a little. This wouldn't be the first time Gabriel claimed to see phantom people. His followers always played along for fear that he may lash out or have one of his famous fits.

Gabriel stood there scratching his head trying to figure out what he was seeing was real or not. He ran outside to get her attention, but as soon he pushed the doors open, she vanished without a trace. His followers ran after him looking a little nervous.

"You ok boss?" one guy said.

"I want to be alone," Gabriel whispered to himself shaking his head.

"What you say boss?"

"Leave!" Gabriel roared giving all of them the signal to leave immediately. They ran back inside stumbling over one another. Gabriel stood there dumbfounded by the vivid hallucination. No phantom or hallucination has ever be this detailed and they've always been people from the past; never anybody new. Suddenly, someone touched his shoulder.

"I said I wanted to be alone," he sneered, but when he turned around, his heart skipped a beat. It was Steve, his most hated rival from Jacob Spude High. A little paler than usually, but it was him. Gabriel jumped back in a start ready to fight, but Steve only looked at him with disappointment. Gabriel and Steve have always been "stand-offish" with each other, even since Steve jumped Gabriel when he broke his arm in middle school. Last Wednesday, Steve crossed the line. After Spude High lost their homecoming game to Dudley, tension between Steve and Gabriel were already high, but no more than any other heated occasion.

In an old abandoned junkyard five blocks away, there lay a two-story dilapidated house. It had a blue plastic covering on the roof which made a lot of noise as the wind blew against it. The house was own by old man Jenkins 20 years ago. He was labeled off as crazy as hell, because of his claim that his basement was a doorway to hell and that demons were going back and forth. One day old man Jenkins saw something that was so horrific that he shot himself in the head… with a shotgun, but that's was legend says.

Gabriel liked hanging out in that old abandoned house. It felt peaceful to him. Never felt alone or cluttered in that house. Steve also thought the lot was pretty cool too, but mostly wanted it because it belonged to Gabriel and if he takes it, he'll be the toughest kid in the district.

Last Wednesday, Steve and his gang met up with Gabriel and his followers for their traditional who-gets-the-lot fight. The most that usually come out of it were a few black-eyes and a couple of broken ribs, but last Wednesday was different. It got out of hand and the only thing it took was one taboo word, _Mother_. Even Steve knew he crossed the line. Anybody who knew anything about Gabriel knew not to mention his mother. Anger built up to his core and exploded through his pores and in one punch. Steve was knocked clean over a car and when Gabriel saw his body lying on the ground, his neck twisted in a unnatural way; he fixed his hair, lowered his head, stuck a toothpick in his mouth, and went on about his business. He hasn't heard about it since. It was labeled off as a gang fight and closed as a casualty of inner-city juvenile delinquency.

"So you're still alive?" Gabriel chided.

"Still acting tough and wearing all white I see?" Steve remarked. Gabriel stood there with a snow white hoodie over his white wife-beater and jet white sweat pants with the cleanest pair of white basketball shoes you've ever seen. "But I didn't come here to argue with you." Gabriel tensed up as if anticipating for an incoming strike. "Or fight."

Gabriel looked at him a little sideways placing a toothpick in his mouth. "So what do you want?" As he looked at him, he realized he had on the same clothes from last Wednesday, but neat and fresh as if he hadn't fought at all.

"I-I wanted to say," he stammered. "I-I wanted to thank you for relieving me of this cursed existence. It was time for me to move on and I-I just wanted to thank you. It's was painful at first, but when you get used to it; the joy of combat and feasting is an unmeasureable ecstasy."

Gabriel looked at him with a confused expression. "Time for you to move on? Feasting? What the hell are you talking about?

"And I-I just want to share it with you," Steve said smiling harder and harder until his cheeks started to rip apart revealing razor sharp yellow teeth. His eyes started to glow deep burning red and his skin turned in to a hard white shell. Gabriel gasped at the deformed demonic version of his rival. As scary as he was, it was sadder to him more than anything else. Even though they were rivals, they had mutual respect for one another. He may have been Gabriel's rival, but he was the closes thing he had to a friend.

"I've been following you for a long time now. I've seen what type of home you have to go back to. There's nothing for you in this life," Steve said gently. "I-I'm in love with you Gabriel. Join me and we will become lover's of chaos."

"What the FUCK!" Gabriel said as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing or seeing. He didn't know if that was a hallucination or some sort of side effect. What lay before his eyes was a demon that took up half of the school parking lot. It had a jet white exoskeleton and excessively muscular. The demon's mouth cracked open like an alligator, exposing his jagged teeth. Gabriel was frozen in fear; words escaped his mouth. In one foul swoop, blood sprayed profusely from his chest. The force of the strike sent him flying through the metal entrance doors. Pieces of glass were embedded in his back. As Gabriel looked down to see why his hand was so wet, he realized that it was his own blood and he was soaking in it.

The world became cold to him. Things started to make sense to why this was happening to him. It was something that he repressed for a long time. The image of his mother holding her hand out as her beautiful green hair flew in the wind, kept playing in the back of his mind. As the demon charged for the kill, Gabriel heard a piercing ringing in his ears. It was the fire alarm. "It must've got knocked loose," Gabriel thought to himself.

Students seemed to flood toward the entrance doors totally ignoring Gabriel lying on the floor. The first wave of kids exploded into blood and flying limbs as they came into contact with the demon. Their blood sprinkled on his face as he laid on the ground.

"Nothing will stop me from having you my love!" the demon roared.

"Nooo, you're not real!" he shouted. "You're not real!"

"If I can't have your love, I'M GOING TO TAKE IT. Gabriel closed his eyes ready to accept death, but suddenly he felt another presence.

"Soten Kisshun," a soft voice.

He looked up and noticed that everything went silent and froze in place as if time stopped. A glowing yellow dome covered the entire school. He coughed up blood as he staggered to his feet. As he made his way outside, he noticed that the demon was frozen too. The blood and pieces of flesh surrounding him were suspend in mid-air, but than suddenly vanished without a trace. This startled the hell out of him.

"Stand back," a stern but quiet voice said. "This will be over shortly." As he looked at the direction of the voice, he noticed a silhouette of a woman shadowing over him in the sky. He couldn't see her face, only her bosom bulging from her chest. Gabriel wiped his eyes. Besides demons trying to kill him, floating chicks was a little too much.

However, before he could speak, the strangest thing started to happen. The mysterious woman raised her hands and said only two words. "I reject." Everything around him started to rewind in a warped and choppy way as if someone had found the record disc for time and space and manually rewinded it with their finger. Before he knew it, all the massacred kids were reattached back to life and running backwards into the school until the demon was the only thing left.

Suddenly out of nowhere another woman sprang into action. She had long black hair, a crop top, mini skirt, red gauntlets and reds boots. Given to what just happened, Gabriel was half expecting anything to happen. He forgot about the wounds on his chest, but they continued to bleed. She appeared in front of the demon in a series of blurred movements and performed a Beat Rush. However, the demon didn't move an inch. He stood there stiff as a statue, but she continued to unleash furious combos. She continued to strike until water oozed out of his pores and sweat beaded off her skin. The liquid started to puddle around their feet. By the time she paused, Gabriel counted: five uppercuts to the ribs, seven elbows to the chin, twenty kicks in between the legs and three hurricane kicks to the left eye. The demon stood there motionless in time. The black-haired girl performed a back flip and stood in her fighting pose. Gabriel just watched mouth a gaped, stunned by her skills.

As she stood in her fighting pose, her eyes were fixed on the demon. Red ki emanated from her body like fire. Suddenly she flashed-stepped behind the demon and readied herself to do a foot sweep.

"Waterkick," she yelled. What seemed like a bad slip in the puddle of water and sweat propelled her foot to blinding speed. The kick sent vibrations throughout his core, but he stood still motionless. The black haired girl fell back in pain holding her leg. She rolled around on the floor for a couple of seconds, but rose to her feet red with anger. Spinning to one knee while slapping her right hand on the ground making a small crater, she flash-stepped behind him again. She gripped him with all her might, he red ki blazing like fire. With a mighty tug, she ripped him from the ground and spun the demon around like a hurricane and tosses him into the air. As she readied herself to leap into the air, a giant silver hand gripped her shoulder and pulled her back. It was a tall muscular black man with a long braided mo-hawk and a silver bionic hand.

"Gaddam, girl," he said. "How many times you're goin to kill the bastard, Tifa."

"Let me go!" she roared trying to break free. "He almost broke my leg."

"Stop! You're going to make Orihime pass out."

The demon slammed into the ground sideways on his face. Tifa stopped and realized that the hollow couldn't react to her combos because he was frozen in time. She laughed nervously feeling like a total dumbass.

"Thank you Barrett," Orihime said. She was slumped over sweating and panting. "I'm sure she just forgot that it takes a lot of energy to sustain it." Behind Orihime's smile it was obvious she was being sarcastic.

Tifa stood there smiling and waving her hand. "Sorry, I forgot."

The yellow dome slowly dissipated and Orihime slowly rose to her feet pulling out a piece of tissue and wiping her forehead with it. The demon jumped to his feet laughing as if nothing happened to him. His eyes fixed on Gabriel with murderous intent. Gabriel tensed up as he realized he was still the object of danger.

"Come on and join me Gabriel," he chided. "Don't you know _she's_ here too?" Gabriel looked downward clinching his fist. The demon suddenly charged in at him, his teeth and claws ready to shred. "Let me help you with your decision, my love."

When Gabriel looked up, his initial impulse was to run, but given to who was around him, he felt confident enough to stand still. They didn't move an inch, just sighed to themselves. "Um aren't you guys supposing to spring into action or some shit like that," he said a little nervous.

"Did he just say something to us?" Barrett asked.

"No he can't see or hear us," Tifa reminded.

"Yes, it's impossible," Orihime agreed.

As the demon got closer, Gabriel tensed even more now backing up slowly. "Um, guys?" he said staring directly at them.

"Daaaaammmn. I swear it looks like he staring directly at me. How weird is that?" Barrett said looking at Gabriel with a quizzical expression. As the demon got too close to dodge, Gabriel started to lose his cool.

"Guuuuyyys!" he said falling down to the ground and closing his eyes, but nothing happen. When he opened his eyes he found the demon writhing on the ground with two broken legs. He was convulsing and screaming in agony as his bones broke one by one.

"Finally," Tifa said sighing to herself. "I hate those delayed reaction."

The demon tried to leap at Gabriel with his claws, but failed miserably as both arms broke backwards along with all his fingers.

"Damn you!" the demon roared. "Why won't you love me?!? No matter, you'll join _us_ sooner or later. I can smell it on you!" His face swelled and puffed up and his exoskeleton begun to crack. Now screaming louder, he bashed his head repeatedly into the ground in an attempt to kill himself. Finally his face swelled up to the point where he couldn't see, hear or speak. He still tried to scream, but it came out as muffled shrills as his spine broke in seven different places. Now dead his body turned to dust.

It was quiet for a while before anybody said anything. "Ssssshhiiiiit," Gabriel finally managed to say.

"Next time let's not kill hollows in a round-about way," Tifa said.

"You caused him to die a slow and agonizing death," Barrett said.

Gabriel looked at them ready to ask many questions. "What the hell just happen? Who the hell are ya'll? Am I dreaming? What the hell is going on?

"Are you sure he can't see us," Barrett whispered.

"POSITIVE!" Tifa yelled.

NO no, it's quite impossible," Orihime said in her soft voice.

Gabriel lost all sense of respect and gripped Tifa by the shoulders shaking her. "WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-GOING-OOOOONNNN!"

"O my god, he can see us?" Orihime yelped. Barrett weighed down his hand on top of Gabriel's head pushing him to the ground on his butt. He folded his arms and looked at him quizzically.

"Yo Orihime," Barrett said scratching his beard. "What did that hollow call him?" She looked out the top corner of her eyes trying to place a finger on it. Nothing came to mind so she just shrugged her shoulders. "What about you Tif?"

"I think he said Abraham," she said quickly.

"I'm right here," Gabriel sneered. "Why don't you just ask?"

"No, no I have a second cousin named Abraham. I would've remembered that," Barrett remarked.

"I think it's Able," Tifa said scratching her head.

His face started to turn as red as his right eye. "Stop talking over my head!"

Orihime raised her hand like an eager student. "I remember his name now," she said smiling. "It's Hamlet."

"Kinda a weird name, but whatever," Barrett said looking at Gabriel awkwardly.

"Gaddammit, my name's Able… I mean Hamlet" he yelled than said quickly. "Gabriel."

"Okay Able Hamlet Gabriel," Barrett said. "Explain yourself. How can you see us?

Gabriel let out a growl under his breath than sighed to himself. "I don't know. I see a lot of stuff. Sometimes it's real and sometimes its not. For instance, I don't believe what I'm seeing now!"

"Did you just say your last name is Gabriel?" Tifa asked.

His eye twitched with frustration. "Yeaaaaaaah."

Barrett and Tifa huddled up together whispering and glancing at him as Orihime looked toward the ground twittling her thumbs. Barrett and Tifa walked toward him with an unsettling expression on their faces as if they were planning something. This made him tense up. "Soooo, your last name is Gabriel huh?" Barrett said with a creepy undertaker-like expression on his face.

"And that you been seeing weird things as long as you can remember, rrrrrriiight," Tifa said with an equal amount of creepiness. Gabriel started to back up slowly.

"Yeah."

They both looked at each other and their faces darkened. "What's your mother's name again?" Tifa asked while sizing him up.

"I didn't give it," he said as his eyes narrowed. He held his chest as it begun to throb. Everything started to get fuzzy. His snow white jacket was now soaked in blood as some dripped down to his pants. "And besides, what's it to you?"

Tiff and Barrett looked at each other and shared an understanding. They began to walk closer and closer toward Gabriel with their hands behind their backs. "Hey wait guys," Orihime said jumping in front of them. "He's hurt let me heal him."

"Fine," Barrett said pulling out a cell phone and texting.

"Soten Kisshun," she said throwing the barrier on Barrett and Tifa. They stood there motionless in time. "Sorry for the trouble we put you through. Barrett and Tifa are good people; they just don't know was going on."

"My brain hurts," Gabriel whimpered. "Where's o where's the blue pill when you need it." He sighed to himself holding his head in his hand. "Can you just tell me what's going on?

"I'm going to make the bad things going away," she said with a sweet, but somehow creepy smile. "It's what she wanted."

"What?!?" and before he knew it, a veil of darkness dropped over his brain and for once in a long time… he was sleep peacefully.


	3. The First Contact pt 2

_Note. People, vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the dark, cuz I don't want to piss them off by not including them. Hope you enjoy this chapter along with all the others. Thank you. _

Peace was no longer a stranger to him. His mother stood by the kitchen stove preparing his favorite breakfast: smoked sausage, chocolate chip waffles, hash browns and OJ. Gabriel was ten years old again and his step father sat across from him smiling making silly faces. In that kitchen there wasn't a single care in the world. Outside were only clear blue skies and the sun shining over open green pastures. There were no signs of people, technology or any type of distraction. It was only them and Gabriel's perfect world, but suddenly… the sun set and the wind howled icy pin needle-like drafts. When he looked outside, black clouds filled with anger spat out lightening. As he turned around to catch his mother's warm inviting embrace, he found that the kitchen was gray and empty and that his mother and step-father gone.

Pots were boiling over as he heard arguing whispers, so he knew somebody was there. Gabriel's heart was racing. A feeling of dreaded déjà vu set within his bones. He cried out for his mother but nobody answered. As he made his way out of the kitchen, his feet slid under him slamming his body into the hardwood floor. He wondered what could've made him slip, but when he looked at his hand blood ran down his arm. It puddle around his body and trailed upstairs. Gabriel slowly followed it dreading where it led. Claw marks and blood were etched on the walls. It seemed like the hallway was stretching out for miles. He could hear something savagely feasting as it hissed in the distance. His legs were shaking at the knees, but he was compelled to press on as if somebody was calling his name.

The trail led to the one place that made his soul cry out, his parent's room. He could he demonic growling as it feasted on flesh. The door was cracked open seeming to antagonize him to peep through. A part of him knew what was behind that door, but a part of him didn't want to believe it to be true. He thought, just maybe, just maybe the outcome could be different and that happiness truly existed in a place full of wickedness. Maybe after all he was meant to have peace and that some cruel being wasn't burning him at the point of a magnifying glass.

_Foolish child. Still living in a fantasy world. Haven't learned what the past has thought you. Lessons forgot are sometimes paid in blood. You know what's behind the door. Go ahead and open it. Open that door you closed so long ago, but be warned, some doors are better left closed._

The door slowly opened as its whine echoed throughout his core. What he saw was incomprehensible. So much blood painted the room that it came close to impossible to distinguish anything. The only thing in plain sight was something so hideous, it had no name. It had something in its hands, lifeless and dangling. Gabriel couldn't identify it. The body was skinned, things hung from its torso and limbs were half eaten.

"_Don't you recognized your own mother when you it_," the nameless chided.

Gabriel woke with a start lying face down on the seat of a toilet. Cold sweats streamed off his face. As he came to, he bust from the stall looking at himself in the foggy mirror. He recognized that he had on the same white clothes, but recently stained by the yellow and brown liquid of the restroom floor.

The room was dim and the light flickered on and off. Everything had a navy blue under tone. Gabriel fiddled around in his pockets and pulled out a prescription bottle of Lithium. He ran the rusty colored water from the faucet and scoped some in the palm in his hand swallowing it with the medicine. As he waited for the medicine to take effect, the images of what he just saw racked his brain like a kamikaze pilot. Gabriel bashed his forehead against the mirror trying to dull one pain with another. The glass cracked as blood streamed from the scar in between his eyes. He looked in the mirror realizing he looked like a total madman and needed to get a grip on reality.

His heart started to calm as he could feel himself gaining composure. The medicine was taking its affect. He was breathing easier as he suppressed the nightmare into the back of his subconsciousness where it belonged. The nightmare was starting to get foggy. Gabriel had no idea of what caused it to flood his mind.

As he tried to recollect the day, everything until now seemed hazy. He looked at his watch and it was 9:00 am, again. Gabriel felt like most of the day had already passed, but somehow it hadn't even begun yet. The day was missing something. Something big happened, but he couldn't place a finger on it. The only thing he could remember was walking out of class… and that Japanese girl dressed in black robes.

"Yo boss, some girl is here to see you," a voice said behind the restroom door.

"What the hell are you talking about," Gabriel said while splashing cold water in his face. "What girl? I don't know any girl?"

"I don't know boss, she's been asking around for you all day," the voice said laughing a little. Nobody wanted to see Gabriel if they had a choice; "seeing" him meant you did something to piss him off.

"I want to be alone," he said rubbing his wet face. "Tell her to go away."

"And she's a beaut too," he snickered. "Plus she's Japanese. We know how much you like foreign women."

"Huh… what… how'd you find… how many times have I told ya'll to stay away from my special box..." Gabriel than paused as he realized something. "Did you just say Japanese?

"Yep, sure did, boss."

"Give me a sec." Gabriel looked at himself in the mirror and saw a man hanging on to sanity by a couple of threads. Brownish rust water dripped from his face as he tried to straighten himself up. He took in deep breaths than wiped his face in dingy government colored paper towels. The restroom door opened slowly as he looked around with curious eyes, but what caught them stole all the air out of his lungs. There in plain sight was the same girl he remembered seeing dressed in black robes. She had on a white button-up shirt, blue jeans, a dark burgundy suede jacket and red tennis shoes with a burgundy hat.

"Hi, I'm Rukia Kuchiki," she said smiling. "And you must be… Hamlet?"

It seemed like a bolt of lightning seared through his brain. That name seemed familiar and it was not because of Shakespeare either. With that word came a face and with that face came long black flowing hair. She had on all black and white with some red mixed in there. Also, she had a big muscular black friend with a Mohawk and a _shiny_ arm. Everything else was drawing a blank.

"Why would you call me that? That's not my name? Why would you think that's my name?" Gabriel said as his left eye twitched.

"So what's your name than?" she said smiling and tilting her head to the side.

He sighed to himself, straighten up and said, "It's Gabriel." His followers circled around her, their eyes full of mischievous intent and their smiles a little vague. Gabriel wasn't sure if what he was hearing was real. Light whispering echoed from their closed mouths. This unnerved him, but he shrugged off the feeling and labeled it as a phantom. She stood there her smile unchanging; she wasn't scared or the little's bit nervous. This also unnerved him.

"If you really knew who I am you wouldn't be so calm," Gabriel said trying to anticipate her reaction. She laughed to herself and looked at him as if he was a small child.

"That's cute," she laughed. "I didn't know your _kind_ could be threatened so easily."  
"Go home flat-chest," he sneered; "Before I give you a reason to be afraid."

"Afraid?" she laughed. "I'm not the scared dog who goes through life acting tough so that everyone won't notice the tail in between your legs."

Gabriel laughed to himself. It has been a long time since someone has stood up to him. On most days he would've taken that as a first degree offense, but coming from her, it made him feel alive. Coming from her it meant that there are some people out there with spines. In some strange way they met an understanding. "You have a sharp tongue, princess," Gabriel said with an amused expression.

"For a pretty mouth," one of his followers added as they orbited her. Gabriel gave them his famous piercing stare, his red eye gleaming as the hazel eye just as fierce, but they ignored it as if it had no effect. For half a millisecond, Gabriel swore that snake tongues slithered from between their teeth. Their incessant whispering was getting louder and louder by the second as if it was concentrating inside his brain. Gabriel shook his head trying to quiet the noise inside.

"You want to go for a walk?" he said softly.

"Sure," she said plainly. They begun to make their way toward the entrance school doors as he noticed his band of followers were still following them smiling and whispering with their mouths close. The look in their eyes meant that they were up to no good, even on Gabriel's terms.

"AAAlooooone!" he sneered. They looked at Gabriel with a surprised look which turned into a scowl and a smirk. "Get the fuck out of here!" he roared. One of them, who carried himself as if he was the leader, stood toe to toe with Gabriel with a defiant face. Gabriel wanted to rip his eyes balls clean out his head, but he was too surprise by their new found sense of "badassness". Everyone feared him at Dudley High and his followers were the most cowardice of them all. However, they walked off with smug attitudes laughing a little. "_That was a little different_," he thought to himself.

"Things are going to get a lot weirder than that," Rukia said under her breath.

Gabriel and Rukia continued to walk until they were half-way out of the parking lot. Cars flew by as the smell of fastfood breakfast and car exhaust filled their lungs. It was a regular midtown morning in Atlanta. As Gabriel looked at her, he noticed that there was something _different_ about her… really different about her. It seemed like there was more to her than what met the eye. To him she looked super skinny, but really pretty. This made him blush a little.

"There's a reason you wanted to see me right," Gabriel said a little nervous.

As soon they reached the outskirts of the school, she jumped in front of him pulling him close by the coat collar. "Hey watch it," he said tightly; "You're going to dirty up my white jacket." Gabriel thought about what he just said as he remembered that his clothes were decorated by the restroom floor. He had a little bit of everything on his clothes: cheese doodles, soda, hair, piss and probably some diarrhea. God knows how bad he must've he smelled.

"Um please excuse my appear…"

"Did you see them?" she interrupted with an expression of extreme urgency.

"Huh?" he managed to say.

"Men in red robes, have you seen them yet." she whispered jerking him closer by the collar.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She released him and begun pacing back and forward biting her nails. He could tell she was trying to choose carefully what she was about to say next. Gabriel used the same expression multiple times to trick the police into going left where they should've been going right. "Just calm down and slowly tell me what's going on."

"Well, the men in red robes are…" Out of nowhere Gabriel's band of followers jumped from inside the bushes surrounding them. They all had crazed looks in their eyes and their mouths were foaming.

"Hey since you're the new leader Morlock, why don't you tell your friends to leave in peace," Gabriel said cracking his neck and knuckles.

"It's Murdock, not Morlock," he sneered. "A morlock is a cave dweller… You know what… You spent all this time with us and you haven't even bothered to learn our names."

"Why should I bother to learn the names of a band of bitch asses," he chided. Murdock along with the rest of his gang opened their mouths and released glass shattering wails. Rukia flash-step in front of Murdock and perform a 20 hit pressure point combo in a blur of swift movements. With a reverse round-house kick she sent him colliding into two others as their heads crashed into the pavement leaving only two left. They charged her simultaneously, but Rukia performed another 20 hit pressure point combo with one hand leveling them both at once.

"OOOOOOOWWW," Gabriel said cringing in phantom pain. "Overkill much?" She turned around with a smirk on her face that said, _And I was only using one hand._ Ten blocks away, a man was standing on top of a ten story building dressed in red robes with a Bluetooth in his ear and a longbow and arrow in his hand. The bow was made out of a jet white pair of horns and he had on a red and white mask that resembled the skull of a minotaur.

"I have a clear shot, sir. It seems like the diversion worked," he said calmly. "Affirmative, over and out." His bone arrow seared through the sky making a light whistling noise. Gabriel felt a tingling sensation crawl up his spine, but when he turned around instinct took over. He push Rukia to the side and dived forward into a ditch as the arrow whizzed past his ear. As he dived, he noticed that the arrow was glowing red and caught ablaze. A mini-nuke type explosion leveled the street on top of Gabriel. He rose from the pile of rocks and debris that used to be a ditch on the side of the road. The surrounding trees were reduced to burnt twigs while everything else was scorched. Rukia emerged from a pile of rocks covered in dust and dirt. Her shoes were gone, her pants were now burnt caprice and her white button-up shirt was now a gray half-button-up sleeveless shirt.

Gabriel limped over toward her while blood ran down his face and broken left arm. "Are you ok," he coughed.

"Don't worry about me," she coughed. "You're the one that's important."

"What do you mean?" he said gasping for air.

Ten blocks away, the man with the white bow and arrow rose to his feet placing his weapon on his back. "Direct hit sir; coming in to be intercepted. With a single mighty leap he was up 50ft in the air. "But before I go," he smiled to himself. "Here's a parting gift." Ten arrows whistled toward them, but now there wasn't a place to hide. Suddenly a portal opened up from the sky swallowing him up.

Gabriel limped for his life while Rukia busily texted on her phone. "Now isn't the best time to be texting," Gabriel said making his way toward the now half destroyed ditch. In a flash of blinding light everything around them went up in a mushroom cloud including them. After the explosion, Gabriel opened his eyes coughing up pools of blood. Gabriel was amazed to be alive, but everything around him including his high school was gone. Nothing was there except a pile of unrecognizable rocks. Everything around him looked the same; scorched land, burnt tress, and debris everywhere. As he rolled to his side, he saw Rukia's broken mangled hand stabbing out of a pile of debris. His heart leaped from his chest.

Gabriel rose to his feet, but everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion. His ear bled as a deep ringing penetrated his skull. He knew he was in pain, but his body was numb. Every footstep he took felt as if he was floating. He knew she couldn't have survived, but for some reason he had to try. Maybe if he pulled her from the wreckage, she might still be alive. Maybe when the air hits her, it may bring the breath back to her. Gabriel busily tunneled his way through the rocks that buried her, but when he tried to pull her out, her hand snapped off sending Gabriel tumbling backwards. He held her detached hand in his, his mind not fully grasping what just happened.

_Foolish child. Still living in a fantasy world. Haven't learned what the past has thought you. Lessons forgot are sometimes paid in blood._

Tears streamed down his face. As the smoke cleared away, Gabriel finally understood the degree of the devastation. His eyes could barely stand still. Everything as far as the eye could see was nothing more the open fields of scorched land. Maybe his foster parent's house was destroyed, but Gabriel laughed to himself. He knew his luck was never that good. They probably didn't know or care enough to find out if he was safe let alone alive. If the police didn't tell them what was going on they would be oblivious to anything that was going on in his life.

Gabriel fell backwards in exhaustion as he coughed up blood. He was powerless to make a difference. "I guess you were right," Gabriel thought to himself. "I guess I was a foolish child living in a fantasy world."

His body started to go cold and everything became dark. Gabriel could feel himself dying. He held up his necklace, that his mother gave him, into the sunlight and admired it. His mother lived about long enough to give him the necklace and die the next day and his step-father disappeared. Some strange shop-keeper dressed in a hat and clogs told him that that necklace was a talisman and that is was a good luck charm. He said it belonged to the gods of death and that they used it to travel from flesh to spirit.

Gabriel closed his eyes and kept slipping in and out of consciousness, but what he saw in between was hazy. A buff tall man with braided hair and glasses swooping in and carrying him off, but when Gabriel closed his eyes again, he heard a familiar voice. However, when he opened them again he was being carried into a house by the tall buff man while a black cat kept talking in his ear.

"Come on, stay with us," the cat said. "He lost a lot of blood; come on stay with us."

"What happen to Rukia?" he said as he coughed up blood. "Is she ok?" Whatever must've happened had to be horrible, if he could notice a cat's face grim. Gabriel lost all will to live. There was nothing to fight for; there hasn't been in a long time. There was one less waste of space the world had to worry about.

"Don't talk," the cat said. "Don't give up yet, you can still make it. You have to focus on something you really care about if you want to live?"

"I have nothing." When he closed his eyes to sleep, he didn't know that that was the last day he would open them as a human.

_Yea, for those who are Rukia fans... yea, no disrespect intended. _


	4. Urahara Explains It All Sorta

It was calm. Things were silent for now. He could hear himself think without hearing the incessant arguing or pointless drunken conversation his foster parents would always have. Heaven felt good and peaceful to him. How he managed to get here was beyond him. He turned over on his side resting his head on the pillow taking in as much rest as possible, but he noticed something strange. He was covered head to toe in bandages.

"I didn't know people in heaven wear bandages," he thought to himself. At that moment yesterday's events played back like a record player being spun with a nail as the needle. Gabriel could remember holding Rukia's mangled body in his hands. Her body so broken almost to the point of being unrecognizable, the sight of the thought filled his soul with anguish. He cursed his luck for dealing him such a poor hand of cards. "Rukia, I'm so sorry, but I swear you this. The people who've done this, their blood will flood the streets," he whispered to himself.

The room was dark and the mattress he was lying on resembled a sleeping bag. The decoration seemed like something of a ten year old boy's feng shui: poster's of superheroes (who were all Japanese except for the superman poster) transformer toys, a bookshelf with no books only comics, and a TV with a PS3. Gabriel walked out into the cold balcony looking up at the clear black skies. Strangely enough, the sky was filled with millions upon millions maybe even billions of stars. Outside the house were vineyards and tall different looking trees. He had no idea in hell where he was, but nowhere could've been better than home.

"A little young to be staring out into the stars like that," a voice said coming from over him.

"Not when you've seen the things I've seen," Gabriel replied with the frost of the air exiting his mouth. He continued to look up into the cold skies staring at the moon.

"Spoken truly like an old soul," laughed the voice.

"Am I dead?" Gabriel asked.

"No, well at least not yet," the voice said.

"How's Rukia?" Gabriel anxiously asked.

A black cat hopped down onto the safety rail looking up toward Gabriel. "Her condition's unchanged," the cat said. The cat looked familiar. It looked like the same black cat who was talking to him right before he passed out, but Gabriel shrugged it off as a phantom. In his mind either he was dead or lock up in the insane asylum. Either two ways made no bit of difference to him. It would be a befitting punishment for letting her die. The weak doesn't deserve what they want.

"It was my fault you know," he said looking down. "I was there and I could've saved her. I'm just weak. I could never protect anything." With a mighty slap, Gabriel had four deep claw marks on his left cheek. It stung like fire and bee stings. However, the strange thing was that the slap hurt more than the claws. "AWWW!" Gabriel shrieked in pain.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," the cat said calmly. "If you want to avenge Rukia, you have to become strong."

"Awww, I thought hallucinations weren't supposed to hurt?" he said holding his face.

"Hallucination?" the cat said in disgust. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You are a hallucination," Gabriel said as if he was trying to convince himself. "A complete figment of my imagination. An episode brought up by posttraumatic stress induced by the earlier encounter."

"I'm no hallucination," the cat sneered slapping him on the other cheek. Gabriel grumbled in pain and eyes narrowed looking intently at the cat

"Yes you are," he said bitterly. "And I would appreciate if you don't touch me again. I'm not afraid to beat a hallucination's ass."

"Just think about the last thing you remember. Is this any more crazier than that, Hamlet."

Suddenly, Gabriel went quiet. "What did you call me?"

"Hamlet, that your real name isn't it?" the cat said looking sideways at him.

"My name's not Hamlet and if you call me that again imma beat your ass, hallucination or not."

"So that's your way of dealing with fear, Hamlet," the cat chided.

"MY NAME'S NOT HAMLET!!!!!!!!" Gabriel screamed as he charged in ready to rip him apart. However, the cat just leaped onto his face mauling him onto the ground before Gabriel could touch him. He managed to peal him off of his face. Covered in deep scratches, he stared at the cat in amazement suprised that a hallucination could hurt so much. As he held the cat outstretched in his hands, the cat began to shake and growl fiercely. Suddenly he yanked himself out of Gabriel's grip pouncing on his face mauling him again. The force of the attack was so strong it sent Gabriel colliding through the glass door which separated the outside and slamming him into the mattress. However, this mattress seemed lumpy as if somebody was sleeping in it.

"Awww, get off me," a voice said from under the covers.

Suddenly the lights came on stopping the fight from progressing. "What's all the commotion about?" A voice yarned. What he saw made him squint and rub his eyes. Gabriel was fighting with a cat and a boy caught in the middle receiving both ends of the attack.

"Aw, thank you Urahara-san," Jinta said collasping into the ground with a bloody nose.

"Uh, what's going on, Yoruichi?" he said looking confused.

"Just cheering him up that's all," she said leaping away and walking out the room.

Underestimating his injuries, before Gabriel could explain, he fainted into his mattress. Urahara sighed to himself wondering if he was going to regret taking him in.

As the night wore on, Gabriel slept soundly dreaming nothing… until that is, the images of the previous battle racked through his brain. Endless smoke and land marks scorched beyond recognition. Those bastards probably didn't have enough time to notice what hit them. There was nothing left and nothing worth enough to save. Gabriel tossed and turned as he tried to comprehend why a complete stranger would risk her life to save his, the worst of the litter.

"I have to be dead," Gabriel cried to himself. "It's impossible to have survived. Suddenly a cold chill crawl up his spine. An all too familiar face appeared in front of him. It was a face Gabriel wanted to forget the most. This face belongs to a man whose blood was on his hands. It was Steve, but he was different, more solemn. Gabriel closed his eyes but the image still shined through the darkness.

"How dare you survive," Steve said grimly. "You killed me in cold blood and still have the audacity to live. I bet you feel so nice and invincible after surviving that barrage."

"You don't have the right to judge me," Gabriel sneered. "You're not even real."

"But it's the truth and you know it," chided Steve. "If you had any sense of respect you'd killed yourself."

Gabriel shook his head trying to get rid of the phantom, but it would not leave. "It's not my fault yo ass can't take a punch," harked Gabriel. "If you want to blame somebody blame yourself for being such a bitch-ass. Who dies from one hit?"

"You don't get it do you," shouted Steve. "Maybe you wouldn't have so many regrets if you would just stop lying to yourself. You and I are alike but because when we die, there will be nobody to mourn our deaths." And with that said, the phantom dissipated. Gabriel closed his eyes again knowing what he said was truth. Hours passed by like seconds. As he slept, a sweet calm voice echoed through his ear.

_Wake up. It's time to get up sleepy head_.

"Mom, I thought you were dead," Gabriel said half-way sleeping.

_Wake up sleepy head, it's time for breakfast_.

"I had the worst nightmare. A ghost came back to haunt me. He said it was all my fault, but I didn't listen. Have to stay strong to avenge you."

Its _ok, uh, um son, don't uh um worry. Umm, uh you're doing a good job_.

"Mom, I missed you so much. Why did you leave me? Don't you love me?" As he opened his eyes instead of seeing that long flowing green hair, he saw the face of a pale girl with dark purplish hair in pigtails.

"Everything is going to be ok," she said hugging him. "We're safe.

"Who are you?" he coughed. She froze and yelped. It was a Japanese girl around about his age and very petite.

"I'm so sorry I tricked you," she cried with tears flowing down her cheeks. "I got carried away. You looked so sad and hurt; I thought it would cheer you up."

"By pretending to be my mom?" he said with an arched brow.

"Please forgive me," she said crying more intently while lying on her knees in a bowing position. "There's no excuse for what I did."

"Now that's groveling," Gabriel thought, but he sighed to himself knowing how pathetic he looked covered head to toe in bandages. "It's ok."

She walked away with her head down jetting down the corner. He yarned trying to wake himself up. As he got dressed he walked toward the kitchen yarning a little. He still felt a little tired, but he was curious to see who saved him. A stream of images poured in his head as he wondered how they'd looked. He half expected to see a group of cannibals serving flesh for dinner or vampires serving up red blood flavored wine. He laughed to himself as he walked into the kitchen, but stopped as he saw that nobody was there. However, the smell of something delicious lingered in the air. The aroma brought him toward the dining room filled with people. A black lady dressed in a strange black and orange outfit, a pale guy with blonde hair wearing hat and clogs, two kids his age and a tall built Japanese man with braids and glasses.

"Looks like something out of a comic book," he thought to himself. He looked at them trying to analyze who these people were.

"I'm Urahara Kisuke," said the guy with blonde hair. "Please have a seat." Gabriel sat down feeling a little out of place.

"What's going on?" asked Gabriel.

"We'll fill you in after we eat," he said politely.

As he looked around, he saw bacon, eggs, rice, a strange green soup, waffles, fish and some strange side dishes. Typically, he gathered what he could recognize. "Hey what's that green stuff over there?" he asked with food flying out his mouth.

"Rude!" said Jinta. "We didn't say you could eat yet. The least you could do is chew your food. How can you be so… ahhhh… so rude?!?"

"What I do?" Gabriel asked spiting out chunks.

Urahara sighed to himself wiping the food from his face. "Just calm down, Jinta," he said calmly. "Before we begin each meal we begin by saying, itadakimasu and finish by saying gochisosama. It's tradition."

"Yea… I forgot about that," Gabriel said vaguely.

"_ITADAKIMASU_!"

"Yea, idakiduki," Gabriel muttered.

"Itadakimasu!" Jinta corrected.

"Gazuntite," he laughed in an attempt to make a joke, but everyone just looked at him stone-faced. Jinta shook his head in disgust. As they finished eating, Urahara pulled down a chart from the ceiling and a pointing stick.

"GOCHISOSAMA!"

Gabriel just nodded his head looking at the chart. Jinta looked at him waiting for him to say it. He coughed and nudged on him and until… "Do you have a problem with me?" Gabriel asked.

"You're rude, you're an idiot and you almost squished me to death!" he screamed.

"O, that was you? O… um… yeaaa," he said knowing there was no good excuse for that.

"I got a new nick-name for you," he said with a smirk. "Small-brains!"

"Hey you want to take this outside!" Gabriel said feeling a little red. Everyone lowered their heads sighing to themselves.

"Children, children, calm down," Urahara said calmly, but than having a glimmer in his eyes that showed true seriousness. "Listen up. You do want to avenge Rukia… don't you?"

Gabriel straightened up taking in as much information as possible. As he spoke, things started to make sense, even his craziness. People in black robes called Shinigami, evil demons called hollows, arrancars; all of this seem too impossible to be real, but given to what happened earlier, it made sense. So all his life, some of the things he wrote off as phantoms, may have been real ghosts.

"But there's one thing you haven't answered yet," Gabriel said. "What does this have to do with me?" Everybody around him grimed. He knew what ever it was he wouldn't like it. However, before Urahara could say another word, Gabriel asked, "Does this have to do with my mother?"

Even asking that question startled himself. For years he's been trying to convince the psychologist some _thing_ came to his house and slaughtered and… but no one believed him. The police blamed his father, but he's been missing ever since. Even though the scar on his face was real, the doctor and the police said that his father did that to him and that his mind blocked it out. And basically, his imagination filled in the rest of it. So after than, Gabriel has been seeing _things…_ things little children shouldn't see, but no one believed him. How could they believe him? The whole world been against him ever since. Gabriel's been waiting for a chance like this to finally get some answers other than being labeled as crazy.

"Yes, in fact the reason why you're here is directly related to your mother," Urahara explained.

"I don't get it," he exclaimed.

"You see, your mother worked for us for a while before she decided to retire early," he explained by PowerPoint on the chart. "She was pretty strong and we thought she could handle herself. We tried to stay in contact, but we couldn't get too close. Hollow attract to us like moths to a flame."

"So she knew all of ya'll the whole time?" he asked sounding a little confused.

"Yes."

"If you guys stayed out of my life so far," he said a little angrily. "Why did you decide now to get involved?"

Urahara sighed to himself knowing that this question was coming sooner or later. "Well, we tried to spare you this life. We thought after she died, everyone and everything would leave you alone."

"You still didn't answer my question," he sneered

"We never awaken anybody under or over a certain age," he said calmly."

"That sounds like an excuse!" he roared slapping his glass into the wall. It shattered into a million. Suddenly, Yoruichi twisted his wrist counter-clockwise while slamming and holding his head against the table. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't break free from her grip.

"You feel that anger swelling deep inside you?" she said. "That's why we did nothing. You have a dark soul, Hamlet."

"My name's not Hamlet," he coughed tightly. "And what the hell does that mean." Urahara looked at her in disagreement.

"Your mother was an arrancar," she said bluntly. "And at any time you can turn into a hollow or an arrancar or even worse."

"Yoruichi," Urahara said with urgency in his voice. "All she's saying is that you are a curious case. With that aside we can get to the matter of why you're here." Gabriel looked at him with curious eyes waiting for the bad news. "There're a certain group of people after you. There're just like the Shinigami from Gotei 13, but they're dressed in red robes. They come from a Soul Society just like the one here, but from another parallel universe and they call themselves 7."

"How do you know all of this?" Gabriel asked in amazment.

"I have my resourses," he said with a small grin.

"But why me? Shouldn't a group like that be out for world domination or some shit like that.

"No and that's what worries me," he said rolling up the chart. "There're after something else and whatever it is, it involves you. If it's what I think it is, and that's asuming the worst, than this is worst than I thought, but I can tell you this; THEY ALL WANT YOU DEAD. But rest assure that's why you're here."

"Uh… umm… uhh… so what now," Gabriel said trying to piece all of the information together.

"We train you," he said giving almost a sadistic smile. "But we'll start tomorrow, your reishi is still recovering." As Gabriel looked at the clock it was already 10:00 pm and his body still ached and was covered in bandages.

"Um, aren't I still injured?" he asked trying to get up, but falling back to the ground like a sack of lead.

"No worry; surviving the last battle was the first step," he said almost laughing.

"How can you joke around like that when Rukia's dead," he sneered.

"She not dead," he said with a dark shadow falling over his face. "You'll learn to see that when it comes to Shinigami we are very very hard to kill and that's why we need to get you stronger." Urahara walked slowly toward Gabriel with his hand out. "This may feel a little weird."

Without warning he reached for Gabriel's talisman on his necklace. A strange shocking sensation traveled through his body. He looked around feeling a little different, but his heart skipped a beat as he glanced behind him. laying on the ground was his own body lifeless and limp. The sight of this was too much for him in his present condition. As he examined his body and then looked at himself lying on the ground, he fainted.

"You think we laid it on too thick," Yoruichi said. Jinta and Ururu were fast alsleep. Tessai picked them up placing them under his arms as he tossed Gabriel on his back.

"We have no time to waste," Urahara said. "We only have two weeks to train him before they make their first strike."

"Do you really think this boy is the one," she said pulling out a pipe and placing tobacco in it.

"He has to be," he said casually sighing to himself. "Or all we know will burn."


	5. Countdown to Cataclysm

"_Yo Sup, Tifa, this is Cait Sith. You don't have to return this call, but there is something I need to tell you… in person. Before you land the eagle, bring Barrett and yourself toward the Golden Saucer to meet me. __**It's of the most importance."**_

Tifa and Barrett sat on the bench waiting for the next train to come. The day was already half over and the sun was just about to lay on the horizon. The small town of North Corel was still a crude settlement that laid at the foot of the mountain, but was growing and a little more upbeat now. After the meteor incident, the mining business was picking up, especially since a rare type of item was discovered. This rare Mythril, called Rare Mythril, could also not only be crafted into excellent equipment, but also into useful materia. In no time this town would be restored to its former glory and then some.

"You think this town has truly forgiven me?" Barrett sighed a little bored looking up into the amber-bluish sky.

"Yea, I mean if it wasn't for you, the whole town would've been destroyed," Tifa yarned blowing a bang off her mouth and stretching.

"If it wasn't for me Old Corel wouldn't have been burnt into ashes and…," he stretched. "I don't know, I'm just hoping that they aren't doing it out of a feeling of necessity or something."

"It wasn't your fault," she said. "You can't live in the past."

**"All aboard for the next train to the Gold Saucer," **announced the female station attendant. The gondola pulled into port whistling and humming. They looked around and noticed that nobody else except them were getting on the gondola. Even though North Corel was prospering, the Gold Saucer was hemorrhaging money. Since most of everything was powered by Mako energy, people had to revert back to using an alternate more crude energy source, electricity.

"I still don't get it why we had to come here," Barrett pouted. "We have to land the eagle at midnight. There's no time to mess around."

"Stop sulking," she teased. "We were heading this way anyway. Besides, Cait Seith said he had something important to tell us. Plus, It won't hurt to see what he's up to. Now are you coming or not?"

"Yea ,yea, he's probably want us to see his robotic fur-ball collection," he muttered under his breath. As they walked into the gondola, the station attendant waved heavily away at Barrett smiling really goofy-like. He squinted at her trying to figure out what was wrong with her, but shrugged it off as her being silly. Tifa laughed at his ignorance.

"**Bye, Barrett," **the attendant announced over the intercom**.** Tifa laughed some more when she saw his confused expression. "**Um, t****hanks for saving the world… twice!**" As the gondola pull out for the Gold Saucer, her manager stood right beside her with his arms folded and a sour look on his face. Whatever he shouted at her, they could tell by his wild and flailing arm gestures that it wasn't pretty.

"**Please enjoy your stay at the **_**Golden Saucer!" **_announced the female attendant. "**And by the way Barrett, your mechanical arm is so awesome-**"

"**Gaddammit, stop fucking around with the****…**" the manager interrupted, but then realized that the intercom was still on. "**My apologies. Um, please enjoy your stay.**" Barrett sighed to himself not trying to guess what her problem was anymore. The doors opened and the theme song begun to play, but suddenly they noticed something different about it, it had a fast-paced jazz beat. There were two giant sized moogles leaning over the doorway in a Heisman position creating an even bigger doorway over the entrance.

"Hmph, I see Dio has made some changes," Barrett exclaimed. As they walked toward the front desk, the ticket attendant waved her hand shaking her head.

"No charge," she said with a smile. "Just walk right in. Your tickets have already been paid for."

"Tell Dio we said thanks," they both said both walking in.

The Gold Saucer looked the same, but quite different at the same time. It felt like Gold Saucer, but had a different spirit. Tifa and Barrett both felt something different about the place, but couldn't place a finger on it. The only thing visually obvious was that far least people were here than before. As they walked into the station, Tifa ran forward and jumped into the Wonder Square portal.

"Yo, wait up," Barrett yelled, but sighed to himself as she was already gone. He hoped in leaping out the other side of the tube. Tifa stood there looking around for Cait Seith, but hardly anybody was there, let alone a talking cat and a moogle. Barrett stared at the vastness of the area wondering where to go from now.

"Did he say where to meet him specifically?" he asked.

"Well, not exactly," she said scratching her head. "I thought he would be here since this was the first place where we ever met him."

"You don't know? This is a very big place. It could take hours to find him. We don't have time to mess around."

"I guess when he wants to find us, he'll find us," she exclaimed. "Well since we're waiting, I guess we can enjoy ourselves." Before he could protest, she ran to the first purveyor she could find. As they approached the stand they noticed something different about what was being sold. The dolls resembled them and the rest of their friends.

"Hey you, strong man," said the owner of the stand. "If you can knock over these bottles with this ball, you can win your date a choice deluxe Neo-AVALANCHE doll. 50 gil for three tries; you can't beat that with a stick."

"Neo-AVALANCHE!" they staggered.

"Yep, they are heroes," he praised. "They saved the world… twice. Even though they and Shinra placed the world into spiraling recession and that Geostigma probably stemmed from them trying to fix whatever they broke, but what the hell do I know. I'm just a purveyor of games and cheap… I mean DELUXE… ah forget it. Are you going to pay for a ball or not?"

They both looked at each other dumbfounded and speechless. They had no idea that they were regarded as heroes. Neither of them claimed to be or saw after the glory, they just did their job. However, there was one anomaly with the dolls. Cloud wasn't there, only a blonde spiky haired woman with a large broadsword on her back. Before Barrett could inquire about that doll, a voice shouted his name from behind.

"Yo, Mr. Wallace, Ms. Lockheart, come this way," yelled the voice. It was a teenage girl with short silver hair wearing a black pair of capri pants and sneakers, a wife-beater, and a leather black mini jacket that if zipped up could barely fit over her well-endowed chest. Her skin was pale, her right eye was silver, the other was purple, and freckles that spread across her face.

"Who are you?" Barrett inquired.

"I'm here to take you to see Cait Seith," she said rudely. "You comin or not?" They both looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. With that being said, she hoped into the Battle Square portal which they immediately followed. As they leaped from the portal, the silver haired girl was already in the museum leaving them hardly enough time to keep up. Running inside, she waited impatiently for them holding the elevator door open with her foot. "Hurry up, jeez," she sneered.

"I wonder what Cait Seith is doing up here?" Tifa asked as they sprinted inside the elevator, but she ignored the question.

"Who are you again?" he asked.

"I don't get paid to answer your questions," she retorted snorting and rubbing her nose. Tifa whispered something in Barrett's ear causing both of them to snigger. Her eyes narrowed to the thought of them laughing at her behind her back, but she chose not to acknowledge them. _Ding!_ The elevator stopped and the doors opened. "After you."

As they walked out, Tifa stumbled over what seemed to be a foot sending her crashing into an anonymous man carrying a rather large box.

"AHHHH!" the man yelled as they fell backwards into opposite directions.

"Dio?" Barrett said.

"Do you mind helping me up?" he asked holding his back in pain. "I'm not as spry as I used to be." Pulling him up to his feet, he dusted himself off. Old trophies and pictures of him littered the ground. He sighed to himself as he went to pick up his highlighted portraits, but was caught in a state nostalgia.

"Move it or lose it, gramps," she sneered. Looking into his eyes, they could tell he was emotionally hurt. His lower lip started to vibrated and his face flustered.

"Don't call me gramps," he shrieked. "Do you know who I used to be?"

"A somebody?" she retorted.

"People used to worship me. Do you know what Dio means? It means god and that's what I used to be."

"OLD MAN, you been lingering around here for two weeks. There's no use for you anymore. GO HOME OR DIE… or do both, I don't care, as long as you do it somewhere else," she growled.

"Take it easy on him," Tifa said feeling sorry for the washed up 'use-to-be.'

"No, it's okay. People when they retire, they usually end up dying soon after, so THAT'S WHY I'M NOT RETIRING. I getting back into the game," he laughed pointing into the sky seeming to be what looked like fighting back tears.

"O, brother," she sighed to herself holding her head in frustration. "Jeez, you like a bad fish odor that never goes away."

"Don't worry, when I become the man again your goin to be the one who sucks the face."

"Hey, is that a gray hair?" she pointed."

"WHERE!" he cried frantically giving her the right opportunity to push him inside the elevator while dumping the remains and the box on his head as the door closed. As the elevator lowered, a loud obnoxious burst of crying echoed throughout the shaft. It was the most pathetic thing she ever heard before in her life. So pathetic that she chuckled silently to herself.

"Don't you think you being too harsh?" Barrett said shaking his head in empathy.

"Well, somebody had to rip off the proverbial band-aid," she exclaimed. "Now follow me." She led them toward the door at the end of the hall which seemed dark and ominous. The whole top floor was just about deserted except for the secretary that gave the nod for them to precede down the hallway. As they approached the door the name Dio was still tapped to it. They assumed that he sold the place, but to whom they didn't know.

"Master Seith, they're here," she said peeking her head through the door.

"Don't be coy," he smiled. "Let them in." As they walked in, they were captured by his office. It looked like a loft preserved for a famous rock star or actor. The room had white marble floors, a sculpture of a boy peeing into a waterfall, a library circulating throughout the office and walls that were burgundy with a yeti skinned rug in front of his desk. Cait Seith pulled out of his chair and hopped toward them with a big grin on his face. Even he was fancy looking. The moogle was dressed in an all jet white suit with a red tie and red emeralds on his cufflinks. His whole attire looked a bit off-kilter seeing that the moogle was jet white himself too making him seem like he was wearing only a red tie and cufflinks. However, the cat's attire was an inverted version of the moogle's; a burgundy suit with a white tie and white emeralds.

"What's goin on here?" they both asked.

"Well, to put it simple," he smirked. "I bought the place. Well, as you know after the meteor accident, the world was left in the dark. Since we're in a state of emergency, people are going to need some down time. It's pretty ingenious if I say so myself. And don't worry, I didn't steal the money or get a loan from Shinra. I just barrowed it from the joint account we had when we were going after Sephirorh."

"So, what's up with those dolls that were made to look like us?" Barrett inquired.

"I can't very well name us AVALANCHE. Don't won't them to get us confused with those crazy radical fundamentalist. Besides, the world needed a hero, so I gave them one."

"Yea, but did you have to prepackage it and put it on a shelf?" he said with an arched brow.

"What do you mean 'radical fundamentalist?" she asked. "Did they develop a different strategy or something?"

"No… well yes actually. They resurfaced with new muscle and a world domination complex… well that at least what sources say."

"That's why we been chasing after them," Barrett continued. "Tell us something that we don't know."

"Let me ask one question then, that kid you saved," Cait Seith inquired.

"Hamlet," they answered.

"Weird name, but whatever. That kid, why were you guys that close to him?"

"Well, we were in the neighborhood and we decided to see how he was doing," she blinked wondering why he was asking such an obvious question.

"BUT, WHY!" he roared, but then calmed down when Tifa, Barrett and even the silver haired girl flinched. "I invited you here for a reason here, didn't I?" he added quickly. "Ah yes, I remember now. I had a premonition." He position Barrett horizontally parallel to Tifa. "Hold out your hands, I'm starting with you first Barrett."  
"O, I got to see this," said the silver haired girl showing genuine interest standing next to Barrett.

"O yes, ah… interesting… o yes, uh-huh," he said reading his palms. "There will be a great separation." He walked toward Tifa and held her palms right-side up. Rubbing it with his index finger, she let out a slight giggle. He started to rock side to side making strange sounds. Suddenly, he lick her palms and then smacked his lips as if he was trying to guess the taste. "Ah, very soft, I see you use Goddess Moisturizer."

"Get to the point," she said bonking him on the head.

"Ah yes, you will be kidnapped," he said with a sadistic look in his eyes. Out of nowhere, he slapped a pair of glowing green handcuffs around her wrist.

"What are you-" he said, but Cait Seith interrupted snapping his fingers causing a trap door to open under Barrett's feet. As he fell in, he gripped the back of her leather jacket snatching him and the silver haired girl both down into the abyss. Before Tifa could react, he threw her overhead by the chain of the handcuffs sending her crashing through the stain glass window behind his desk. Falling from a fifty yard drop, she slapped against the hard and unforgiving pavement which led toward a lengthy descend of steps. As she tumbled to the bottom, she staggered up to her knees. She was covered in scraps and cuts, maybe a few broken ribs, but nothing too serious. Suddenly, Cait Seith appeared over her with a smug expression.

"Why, Reeve?" she said with blood coming from her mouth.

"When I do something you don't like, why do you automatically call me Reeve, but when I'm act niece and cuddly then I'm Cait Seith. Don't you know we're one in the same?"

"We're your friends," she coughed. "Why did you betray us?"

"I didn't betray anybody," he said coldly. "To put it simple, I just chose the winning side. Look at it from my perspective, I don't age and I don't die. I learned from my years that in order to get by in life, you have to choose the winning side. At the time when Shinra was winning, I chose them and when I saw that you guys had the upper hand, I chose ya'll. It's that simple."

"So all this time was a lie," she cried. "You lied to us?"

"NO, you lied to yourself. You knew I was a spy, you knew. If you guys were asinine enough to fall for the good guy act, than that's ya'll own damn fault."

"But you sacrificed yourself to save us."

"I'm a fucking robot that has endless clones. Sacrifice means nothing to me."

"Enough," a voice behind a mask said. Out a nowhere a man appeared next to Cait Seith wear a long flowing red robe. He had a Bluetooth in his ear and a longbow attached to his back. It was jet white and resembled a pair of horns. He also wore a red and white mask that looked like the skull of a Minotaur. "Don't you think you tortured her enough?"

"I heard about somebody who looked like you," she said staggering up to her feet.

"If you're asking if it was me that went after Gabriel and Rukia," he continued. "Then yes, it was me."

"I'm going let you guys catch up," he said hopping up the steps. "Just remember, you have five minutes before this place goes up in smoke. So make sure you don't get buried alive." With that being said he left them both alone to finish whatever was going to be started. Without hesitation, the man in red robes shot an arrow toward her not giving her enough time to dodge it. As she took a defensive position, the arrow instead shattered her chains unrestricting her movements again.

"I want to see what you're truly capable of," he said readying his bow again while she tensed up into a defensive kickboxing stance.

The sand was hot and blistering and the sun overbearing. Looking directing into it meant guaranteed total blindness. They laid there in pain trying to gather up their fortitude. It was a long fall down and since they laying on each other the impact combined with the blazing sun, drained them of most of their resolve. The silver haired girl rolled off of Barrett slapping into the hard sand. They both panted for air, but breathing in the dryness made it worse. Barrett sat up shaking the cobwebs out of his brain. As he looked at her, she sat up shaking her head too. Instantly, he remembered how he got here and a rage took over him.

"Talk!" he yelled picking her up by the coat collar. "What the hell's going on? What is he planning to do? Talk?"

"Get your meat-hooks of me, banana hands," she sneered pushing him off of her. "How was I supposed to know that Ms. Fluffy was Dr. Evil?" He stared into her eyes and knew she was telling the truth. She may've been abrasive, but she didn't seem to be the lying double-crossing type.

"Well can you at least tell me your name?" he asked.

"Just call me Akkinaka," she sighed.

"So, what do we do now?" he said looking around. Suddenly, as he looked to his right, a dagger flew toward his head, but he blocked it with his metal hand. They both tensed up trying to find the assailant, but to their disadvantage, he hid in the shadows running from corner to corner laughing. Instantly, Barrett's titanium hand transformed into a M134 Gatling gun.

"Show yourself or else," he shouted, but nobody answered.

"Do it," she smiled anxious to see what heavy artillery would do to this place. Shrugging his shoulders, he fired relentlessly bulldozing any weak infrastructure into the ground. He paused waiting for any type of retaliation. From the rubble, a filth cover man dressed in a helmet and goggles emerged covered in blood and bullet wounds.

"AHHH, you killed my brothers!" he cried walking closer to them. "Now, you shall feel the wrath of all of us!" He placed his grimy fingers in his mouth whistling like there was no tomorrow. Suddenly thirty filth covered men and something that seem to be women appeared out of nowhere with melee bats covered in dried flesh. They smiled brown toothy grins and had the odor of rotted flesh and gas station restroom. Unfortunately, the closer they got the more of them Barrett and Akkinaka could smell.

"You don't think they abandoned the prisoners here, do you?" Barrett asked while his watery eyes were stinging and his nose burning.

"Why don't you go ask 'em?" she coughed pointing to what seemed to be a soil covered hairy fat women wearing scrap armor shaking profusely. The reinforcements charged them in a berserking rage.

"Screw my life," Barrett sighed to himself as he cocked his M134.

"That's the right attitude," she smiled. Without hesitation he opened fire relentlessly reducing them into piles of smoldering Swiss cheese. However, they continued their assault as if they didn't feel any pain. In the mist of it all, a behemoth of a man held two even bigger agitated cacti collared by two chains that looked like they belonged to a battleship anchor. The Behemoths were 10ft tall, widen and purplish skinned with yellow eyes.

"**Hey sup, Barrett and friend**," Cait Seith announced over the intercom. "**Hope you enjoy the surprise I left behind for you. You have three minutes before everything goes up in smoke and for it to come crashing down on your heads. And o yea, by the way just so ya'll know, the cacti aren't the surprise**."

"FUCK," they both shrieked. Suddenly, they were surrounded by Behemoth men holding back cacti. As they assessed the enemy's numbers, they noticed that to every Behemoth, there were two even bigger cacti… and there were over 30 Behemoths too. Barrett and Akkinaka were now back to back thinking of every strategy that could get them out of this pickle, but nothing came to mind.

"Um, got any ideas?" she asked.

"Something that involves us not meeting a thorny demise," he said now sweating. "Then the answers no."

"Then you know what this means, then?" she smile getting into an offensive boxing stance. "We go out like true heroes… in the glory of battle!"

"Ugh, this day just keeps getting better and better," he sighed sarcastically.

"Hell yea it does," she smiled readying herself to charge in fists first.

NOTE: Yep i just left ya'll at a cliffhanger. For you guys who've been reading this far, thank you for being awesome. You can comment

if you like. If any of you guys still wondering, this is taking place after Advent Children. O yes, sorry about the evil Cait Seith, it even

surprised me and I wrote it.

_This is my first fanfic story I ever wrote and i hope you guys are enjoying it._


	6. From Bad to Worse

The red masked assailant darted toward Tifa landing a blow to her stomach and came around with a punch to her face, but she duck under it charging at him lifting him by the knees and tackling him onto his back cracking the harden pavement. Tifa back away trying to catch her breath. She was starting to see the patterns to his technique. It only became more difficult when his long flowing red kimono masked his movements, but luckily if she stayed in close it didn't matter. Every time he went for a head attack, his opposite hand twitched and the attacking hand loosen than tensed. This seemed a little weird, because his pattern was almost like clockwork, but she knew better than that. The amateur hand-to hand combat was just a facade, plus she was too awesome to fall for any of his blindspot attacks. The opponent let out a deep breath and loosened the sword from the sheath, his deep glowing hazel eyes staring at her with deadly intent.

"Since we're alone now I haven't really introduced myself yet have I?" He drew his long thin katana and tensed in a low kendo stance, both hands gripping the hilt tightly until his knuckles turned white. "My name is Naomi Osawa and my rank doesn't concern you." His voice sudden turned feminine and right before her eyes, his body smooth over and morphed into female proportions. "Sorry for the deception." Tifa's mouth almost dropped to the floor. That was her first gender-morphing experienced up closed and personal. It was a good thing Naomi didn't use that as a tactical advantage. She could've cleaved her in two before her guard was put back up.

"My name is Tifa Lockheart and why were you disguised as a man?"

"That doesn't concern you."

"Uh, does your team know you're not a man?"

"That doesn't concern you either." Her voice was cold and emotionless. Tifa's let out a little sigh. She should've known her little word-play wasn't going to work.

"Than why did you reveal this to me? Why not keep it a secret?"

"I have my reasons."

"You're just being a bastard now." Suddenly, the red masked woman charged at her without warning. Tifa barely dodged it, flipping backward using both hands and rolling to the side landing on one knee. Luckily the attack whizzed past her, but as she raised her hands in a fist, she noticed that the rest of the handcuffs were gone. The bits and pieces lay on the floor next to her feet. Sweat started to bead off her forehead and her pulse quickened. If she meant harm, she could've sliced off her hands. This infuriated her. Tifa hated when anyone was toying with her, not giving their all, treating her like a child. "If you not going to take this seriously, I suggest you go finds some children to pick on!"

"With you fighting skills, what's the difference?" she smiled. Tifa eyes narrowed and her cheek curled back a bit letting out a low growl.

"Give me your all, bitch." The red head raised her sword high, red ki gathering around the blade swishing back and forward like two tidal waves fighting against each other and then condensing into a than outline around the sword. With a single downward motion, a red projectile clawed its way toward her cracking and crumpling the ground in an arch. Tensing in a high defense kickboxer stance, she balled her fist and pivoted her toes inward causing her power gauntlets to activate sending a thrilling sensation up her spine. Leaping over the attack, she came down in an arch, her fist blazing with blue ki. She faked with her right hand and charged with the left. The red head instinctively guarded against the right punch, but Tifa feinted landing a crushing haymaker through her mask and into her face. Force only, collided her onto into pavement knocking over vending stands and through a cement wall, the rubble burying her. As she rose to her feet, her dust cover long thick red hair streaked over her entire face. Tifa could tell she broke the left half of her mask, it was hard as steel and her hand felt numb, but still she rose from the rubble as it was nothing. Before all of the dust cleared, Naomi's right eyes gleamed through the smoke glowing more intently as if that punch angered the beast within. When the dust dissipated, she placed her hand over the broken half and reformed it. Before Tifa could blink, she flash-stepped behind her slashing her in the back, the pain bringing Tifa to her knees. Something was off. The pain was like electricity, it traveled through her body and reverberated.

"If you were wondering what I did to you, the attack was call 'Subjugation'. I'm not going to lie to you, if you die and go to hell right now, that would be a better fate than your future if you live through the pain. Subjugation reroutes your neurons and strips you of your free will. Tifa… don't block." Before she could reply, Naomi charged him with a heavy attack, but Tifa saw it a mile away. She was moving slow so she could gather up more power. Tifa smirked waiting for the right moment to end this fight. As the red head went for a hilt pummel, Tifa cocked her right back gather all her strength for one final attack, but suddenly as she threw her punch, it involuntarily jerked in the opposite direction leaving her wide open. Naomi left nothing to chance. All of her strength, everything she had, was concentrated into 'Subjugation' and the energy condensed into the end of her hilt and jabbed into her gut sending a violent torrent of a million volts of electricity throughout her body. With a thud, Tifa collapsed into the ground steam rising from her body.

"Stand," she commanded with an icy tone. She slowly rose to her feet steam rising like fire. Her expression turned from anger to an emotionless blank. "Who do you serve?"

"I-I serve you m-master." It was only a tiny voice in her head now. She felt it slipping into a dark endless abyss. Her will was being pulled down inside never to see the light of day again. She wanted so badly to call for it, but she couldn't motion it to move. After a couple of seconds, she didn't care anymore. Maybe it was better like this. This could help put Cloud's priorities in prospective and her friends would grow stronger and closer on their journey to find her. Tifa was the catalyst of a future that would bring great pain and maybe from that pain things would become better. She knew it was Naomi's technique talking, but she didn't care anymore. Something important was going to happen and she needed to be there with her. All of her emotions sank down to the bottom of a river that froze over it. Everything seemed trivial now, except for Naomi's will. Her will gave her purpose. Everyone needs a purpose in life and now she found it, serving her.

"Your life is no longer yours. Your will is my will. You pain is my pain. You are an extension of myself. Do you understand?"

"Yes master, my life is yours and your will is my mines also. I live to serve you."

"Not good enough. I want you to prove it." She gave her a small knife, her eyes piercing deep into her soul, her face cold and emotionless. Tifa took the blade in her hands. She felt hesitate like the last part of herself that refuse to give up was trying its best to survive, but it died quickly as she drove the knife into her face dragging it slowly from under her eye to the end of her jaw. Blood poured profusely down her cheek. When she saw that Naomi wasn't pleased, she place the tip over her heart.

"I live only to make you happy," she said as tears and blood poured down her face. Naomi's face became sympathetic as she place a finger under her chin tilting it upwards, staring deeply into her eyes. She could feel Tifa's pain from trying not to let go. There was someone she cared about deeply and this brought tears to her eyes. However, she didn't know that Tifa's tears came from the last bit of herself dying, her friends, Marlene… Cloud, they were all dead now. Her soul wept for them.

"Don't worry. You don't need anybody else. My love is all that you need." As her red kimono dropped to the ground, her naked flesh was bare. She had countless scars over her body from head to toe. Her mask disappeared revealing her true face. She was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen. Her face was flawless and her skin smooth and soft. The scars seemed to have healed over well with time. All of them seemed odd and very different than the last as if each scar had a story to tell. Naomi took the knife from Tifa's hands and without hesitation droved the knife into her face and dragged it across her cheek, matching the one on Tifa's face. She dropped to the ground and embraced the red head's knees, feeling the soft and warmth of her body. She patted her dark hair with tears and blood dripping down on her. "I have searched for many to find somebody as special as you. I caused a lot of pain searching. I have been tormented all my life. Pain is the only thing I know, it's who I am, it's what I do and with that the world will remember my name. From now on your name is Joy, Born from Pain of Life, my new daughter."

Three minutes were all they were given. Three minutes to survive a onslaught of ferial prisoners, survive the Behemoths and the Giant Cacti being held at bay by battleship anchor chains wrapped around their necks, ready to be released at an impulse and somehow survive the explosion designated to detonate in two minutes and fifty-nine seconds and counting. In all sense, they were royally screwed. Barrett had no time to access how angry and betrayed he felt. He only hoped that Tifa was doing better than they were, but that wasn't saying much.

The prisoner's numbers decreased to a barely noticeable handful and the Behemoths towered behind them, their horns and dark purple skin glistening in the hot blazing sun. The Giant Cacti stood still motionless as the chain dangled in the wind. The intensity on the field was as thick as the heat waves bouncing off the ground, it could be cut and served on a platter. Barrett and Akkinaka were standing back to back enclosed into a tiny circle. At any moment the intensity level was going to be jacked up a few notches and the battle would be on. Suddenly, the rest of the prisoners rushed toward them only to be flailed aside by a spiky bat that belonged to one of the Behemoths. His growl sounded like a low a rumbling chuckle.

Under his breath, Barrett whispered the words to attack and they charged at them with all the ferocity they could muster. Barrett M134 shot bullets down like rain kicking up dust and dirt into a cloud of smoke. Akkinaka sudden ran inside the cloud before Barrett could protest. The dust field was dark and opaque. Chains dangled and loud monstrous grunts echoed inside. Out of nowhere, the cloud started to glow bright purple and the dust field blew away like a strong gust pushed it aside. Akkinaka leaped in the air flipping backwards landing next to Barrett. Two Behemoths fell to the ground bleeding profusely while the others twitched once.

"Damn, those are some tough son of bitches," she exhaled, sweat teaming down her forehead. "Hey Mohawk, do you have anything else with more of a kick." A sly smile appeared on the side of his face. His Gatling gun arm transformed into a triple-barrow grenade launcher cocking back with slight ringing noise echoing in the air. "Nice."

"Heh, just wait and see." The wind was inhaled into his gun and then slowly exhaled. Everything suddenly went quiet as his gun shot out three bullets simultaneously spiraling at his enemies. At direct contact they exploded into a mini mushroom cloud engulfing the entire area in a blinding light. However, as the smoke cleared, the Behemoths stood their unscathed. Suddenly, the Behemoths let loose the chains that held the Giant Cacti at bay. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. The cacti disappeared in a blur of swift movements plowing through them both. They flew in opposite directions, Barrett crashing into makeshift houses made from scrap metal and Akkinaka slapping into a big boulder. The rock exploded into a cloud of smoke dusting the field. As the dust cleared, she rose to her feet patting the dirt and debris from her clothes.

"I guess this is going to inquire a more personal touch," she said as she unstrapped her purple boxing gloves tossing them into her small backpack. Purple energy collected around her body spinning into a violent tornado. Her smug expression turned into a more serious one. Looking at her, Barrett sworn it seem like her body just became lighter. He didn't know how that was possible, but it was just like she dropped a heavy burden from her back. She looked at him and nodded her head and he knew exactly what she meant. That look meant she needed him to back her up. His arm suddenly transformed into a elongated sniper rifle with high-caliber cone tipped explosive armor piercing rounds. He was going to take the long range while she took close range. In the blink of an eye, she darted toward the Behemoths that stood almost shoulder to shoulder with their chains attached to the collars of the Giant Cacti. They released their grip and the Cacti charged at her with a berserken rage, but out of nowhere, she gained a burst of speed that caused them to crashed into each other. It would've been comical if they had time to laugh, but as she pasted them, they released a bone-chilling screech. Thousands of thorns shot out of their bodies causing the sun to dim under their numbers. Barrett closed his eyes in horror to what would happen to her, sweating bullets and hundreds of escape plans running through his mind. Hearing the sound of a paper ripping into piecing, he knew it wasn't really paper, but flesh being torn to shreds. However, instead of hearing her cry out in agony and the sound of blood splattering into the ground, he heard loud low-pitched grunts. She must've had a deeper voice than he thought, almost manish, but as he opened his eyes, he saw her tackling the Behemoths to the ground crushing their throats with the combined force of gravity and impact and her strength. He suddenly snapped out of his confused state and cocked back his gun.

"You want back up you got it." With only three rounds, two Behemoths fell dead before they could touch her, with giant melon-sized bullet holes in their chest and a Cacti exploding into green goo and thick plant flesh. Akkinaka shuddered as it blanketed her, but she shook it off—literally— raising her hands and lowering her back into an offensive stance. Landing a right hook into the knee of a Behemoth, she brought him down to the ground where she crushed his throat under her fist. She ran and did a reverse high kick kicking another one in the "place" causing him to collapse to his knees where she did a back-flip landing a knee under his chin as she arched backwards. His neck snapped on contact. The others rushed her causing her to take the defensive. Barrett leveled three of them before two Cacti heading toward him could bulldozed him into the floor. He hadn't seen them for focusing his scope toward Akkinaka's direction providing backup when necessary, but they were catching on fast. As he survey the area around him, he noticed nothing was there. He knew better than that. They were hiding behind the blind-spots of his eyes and using the shadows to mask their steps, but he could hear the sound of them breathing—whatever that sounded like— and they stunk up a storm. Morphing his sniper rifle back into his M134 Gatling, he closed his eyes waiting for that pin-drop mistake to be made. Behind him he heard something snap. Turning around, he unleashed a barrage of bullet that hit nothing but air. He heard something whistling, but as he turned around, a spray of needles found its way into his chest and his head if it wasn't for his gun arm that shielded his face. The impact knocked him into the ground. 6in needles were deeply embedded in his chest. The Giant Cacti spared no time for him recover. They surrounded him and unloaded a barrage of needles at point-blank range.

"Barrett!" she screamed as she saw a splash of blood rise from his body. As she rushed to his aid, a giant chain wrapped around her neck threatening to crush her throat. It had a death grip that wouldn't let go. Two other chains wrapped around her wrist tugging them painfully away from her body. Her clothes were torn almost to rags by the needles while sweat streamed down into the curvatures of her pale body. She was somewhat relieved to see her leather jacket laying harmlessly a few feet ahead of her. A Behemoth appeared in front of her towering above her with his eyes wide, red and viny with anger and a spiked club itching for flesh. She struggled to breathe as she tried to tug at the chains, but it only it chaffed the skin around her wrist and neck. With a mighty punch, the Behemoth unleashed a furious combo on her face. Except for the blood that poured down her forehead, she seemed unfazed. The beast seemed to know this and it only made him angrier. Putting all of his strength into one punch, he stepped forward and landed a haymaker. Hearing the sound of something tear, she looked down and noticed that her flawless black leather jacket had been torn by his overgrown toenails. The look in her eyes caused the monster to gulp. It was a look of pure vengeance.

Purple energy collected around her body healing the cuts and scratches around her body. It came in such a violent torrent of waves that it sliced everything to shreds around her including the chains and the Behemoths holding them. However, there was one left. he was standing in fron of her mouth agape, too stuned to move. Her energy seemed to purposely miss him. As she rose to her feet, her body glowed like a purple sun. The eye-patch on her left eye burnt off revealing piercing glowing eye so bright, he fell to the ground almost blind. At that moment he wished he was never born. As Barrett struggled to his feet all he could see was a giant bright light explode, crystalizing the entire blast radius. All that was left was a crystal floor and a burnt smug on the ground. Barrett was covered in blood, tiny cuts and scratches, but the awesomeness of the destruction dulled the pain.

"Not bad. I must be getting old," he thought to himself. As he looked at his watch, his eyes widened. They had less than a minute before the bombs went off. Checking his communicators for a signal, nothing was coming in or out. He hoped that Tifa could make it out in time, but how was he going to escape this place? Was he going to have to travel through this hot-ass desert again, but he forgot which way was out. One false move and they would be stuck here for eternity. Was it northeast or northwest or was it plain north and was he supposed to pass a canyon or a chasm in the ground? He sighed at his own patheticness. Approaching him, her energy died down and she fell to her knees sweating and panting.

"Are you ok?" Her clothes were tatter to shreds. It must've been from the needles.

"I'm going to need a new jacket," she said sprawling out on the ground.

"We have to leave. This place is gonna blow any minute now."

"I can't walk. I think I over did it," she said smiling nervously. Reaching out his hand for her to grip, Akkinaka saw something in him that made her trust him. She took his hand as he scoped her up in his arms.

"Watch the hands." A tiny half smile crept on his face, but it soon faded as he looked out into the horizon. He swallowed deep realizing for the second time in his life how vast and endless this place was. In his arms she fainted, her sliver bangs streaked across her face with sweat.

In the sky, something gleamed in the distance, but the blinding sun made it impossible to make it out. Suddenly, an aircraft appeared over their heads hovering. Something strange was moving around using strange gestures, screaming and jumping up and down. "Is that a monkey?" Barrett whispered to himself.

"Hey don't stand there looking stupid, I'm tryin to save you!" it yelled from the loading docks. Barrett shook his head, hoping that the desert heat wasn't getting to him. Squinting his eyes, he noticed it was Yuffie hanging off the side of a latter that connected to the balcony with a megaphone pressed against her lips. That megaphone reminded him of Cat Seith. The wounds on his body couldn't match the pain of betrayal. They should've seen it coming. He should've suspected that he was capable of such a task. Cat Seith did have the boldness to kidnap Marlene, even if he did have a seemingly justified reason. To use somebody's child to get their attention must've taken extreme gall and a cold calculating brain. Duh! He is a robot! But he is also Reeve also! Maybe Cat Seith, in his roundabout way, was doing the same thing he did back then… and maybe all that Sephiroth needed was a hug and to express his emotions over hot cocoa. He couldn't let his emotions cloud his judgement. Cat Seith betrayed them all. However, the worse part would be explaining what happen to the rest of the team. The darken look of betrayal, the confused expressions, the denial, it seemed that he would have to be adamant… maybe even an asshole about it.

The rope plopped down next to his shoulders. They had seconds left before the explosion was set to go off, but they had to save Tifa. Leaving her behind was not an option. Hanging over his shoulders now, they were retracted inside the Highwind. Three Giant Cacti lay at the bottom, flailing their arms and cursing. A ballistic missle silenced them once and for all. Yuffie and Vincent stood on the balcony pulling them over the edge. Akkinaka was unconscious while Barrett was covered in blood and scratches. "We have to head toward the Golden Saucer. Tifa's still down there."

"Yea," she said nodding her head with a grin.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Vincent said in his eerily calm voice as he shrugged his shoulders. Yuffie held the side of her face, the sound of a speaker whispering on.

"Stop! Cat Seith has planted a bomb down there. It's going to go off any second now," Akkinaka managed.

"What?" Yuffie said in surprise. They all looked at Barrett for confirmation. He nodded his head painfully, too ashamed to look them in the eyes. "What happened down there?"

"Cat Seith ambushed us and threw us in Corel prison. He left those people down there for so long, cooking in the hot sun with no water or food. They resorted to cannibalism. If I knew he was doing this, I wouldn't have signed up for this."

"Who are you?" Vincent asked.

"Listen, I worked for him for half a year 'ONLY' as a bodyguard."

"Sorry, but I have to ask. Did you know anything about this, yes or no?" His eyes stared directly into her soul so cold it could've frozen fire.

"No, I knew nothing about this, I swear. Besides, he was always so nice. I never saw it coming."

"Well, that settles that, but we have to go back and get Tifa," Red said in a casual tone emphasizing the normality of saving a friend despite the danger. "Plus she did call us."

"No, if there's a bomb down there and if Cat Seith has gone rogue, then he might be expecting us. It may be a trap," Vincent interjected

"We can't just leave her. She is going to die if we do nothing. We got 30 seconds and counting. That's more than enough time. If you guys are too chicken-shit to go out there then I'll go by myself, but the longer we sit here and debate the longer Tifa has to wait, alone until the bomb finishes the job. Now tell me, can you all live with that on your conscious?"

Vincent sighed as Yuffie held the side of her ear giving Cid the right-away to head toward the Gold Saucer. Flying upward, the Highwind blew through the ceiling of the Battle Square. Barrett shouted Tifa's name through the cloud of smoke. No sound was made. As the dust cleared, he saw Tifa and the masked assailant walking up the docking board for an aircraft. Barrett called out for her, but she only glanced at him. Her eyes were blank and her face emotionless. The masked warrior pulled out her bow and drew an arrow back, red energy collecting around the tip.

"What is Tifa doing?" Yuffie asked with concern. Suddenly, the arrow was fired, whizzing at them at an amazing speed. Vincent quickly drew his old-school flint-trigger pistols. The bullets exploded the arrow, but the red energy blasted into a mega-explosion tossing them and the Highway backwards causing them to crash into high buildings. The light from the explosion engulfed the entire square, but as it cleared, the aircraft had already lifted off the ground. Out of nowhere, explosions from everywhere went off, tossing them back even further. They had to leave now if they wanted to escape with their lives, but Yuffie, Red and Vincent had to hold Barrett down before he took matters into his own hands. His screamed echoed over the explosions that tossed them back and forward. The Highwind lifted higher into the air, crashing through the ceiling. However, an even bigger explosion blew the entire Gold Saucer into a mushroom cloud. With a blow to the back of the head, Vincent gripped Barrett around the shoulders with his left holding on tightly to the safety rail with his right.

"Everybody, hold on for dear life!" It was already hard to decipher when Vincent was actually serious, since he was always so calm and never showed emotion, but the look in his eyes show extreme urgency. They all found something they hang on to. Yuffie held on to Red's furry body almost squeezing the life out of him. As much as he didn't want to, Vincent gripped Akkinaka securely between his legs. A blinding searing light flashed across the sky, swallowing everything causing a negative black-and-white feedback effect. The most amazing and terrifying force slung them across the sky threatening to capsize them into the torrent. The ship caught on fire turning red under the heat. They felt their skin burning and the bright light seeping through their eyelids. All of them started to scream as their skin started to sizzle. The heat suddenly died down and the Highwind started to make a nose dive. They could smell the hot metal, clothes and hair burning. Yuffie laid on the ground red and twitching while Vincent used his cape to smother Red's burning fur. All of them were steaming and red.

"Shit shit, damn damn!" Cid said bursting through the doors that led to the elevator. His coat instantaneously burst into flames. He tossed it over the edge panting, his shoulders slumping over. Akkinaka's was in critical condition now and her body was covered with burns. As he dropped Barrett like a pair of dumbells, his heavy body dented the metal floor. Yuffie was shaking intensely, her skin red as an apple while Red was staring at her with an annoyed expression. He shrugged it off guessing that she held him to the ground securely as well. "We have to abandon ship! We goin down faster than a hooker on the first of the mon-"

"We get it," Vincent interupted trying to tend to Akkinaka's wounds. He place his red coat over her, covering her up.

"Is she dead?"

"No but she will be if don't treat her soon. So, what's the plan?"

"I got a spare helicopter in the hanger for emergencies just like this, but we have to move ASAP!"

"I k-know where he's heading f-first," Akkinaka struggled. "But it's far as hell."

"Good, but we have to make a stop first," Barrett said, the wind finally waking him up. "We have to get Cloud."

"Right, but we have to regroup first. She's going to die if we don't. Besides, I don't think he's going anywhere soon," Vincent said scooping up Akkinaka in his arms as he placed Yuffie's arm around his shoulders, guiding them toward the elevator.

"Sounds like a plan," Cid said smiling a little. "And here I thought I was goin to be bored today."

"If you want to go down with the ship captain, that fine by me, but if you want to live, hurry the hell up." Vincent and Barrett were waiting inside the elevator as the doors were closing.

"Ugh, it open gaddammitt!" he said running and flailing his arms at the same time.


	7. The Envelop From Edge

**_Note:_**_ I have changed the order of the chapters. Chapter six is acutually my new chapter and this chapter is a revamped in order to have everything correlate. _

_hope you enjoy!_

The air smell of musk and gin and people conversed in a neutral manner. Some drunken idiot set the jukebox to play "Don't Go Bananas" by a high-pitch voice female rock band to play back-to-back-to-back non-stop. The person responsible for looping the song left the bar to go to another one leaving the rest to fester in the awefulness of teenage drama wrapped in music. As the song readied itself to play for the fifth time, intensity and anger started to build up in the air.

_Don't tell me you got doves for me_

_I already know you cheated on me_

_If rose wasn't red and violet weren't blue_

_I wouldn't choked out that bitch til her face turn blue_

_Don't worry I still love you_

_So Don't Go Bananas_

_When you wake up a man cut in two_

_You had it coming to you_

"O my god!" shouted an anger by-stander. "Will someone please cut off that gaddam song! If I hear that god-forsaken one more time, I'M GONNA STAB SOMEONE!" As the room became more annoyed and antsy, the entrance doors flung open. Through it walked in a man dressed in a brown hood and cloak. Confused and curious eyes followed him as he sat at the counter.

"One coke, please," exhaled the mysterious person.

"Would you like me to mix it with a quarter of gin?" asked the bartender with an arched brow.

"Just the coke please," he said plainly.

"Hahaha, nobody has ever just ordered a naked beverage here," laughed the bartender as if what the stranger said was ridiculous. "This is bar, son. A place where depressed fishermen and whinos come to drown out their sorrows in alcohol. A place for where whiskey, gin and beer are served. No bitch wine or pansy champagne."

"If it's all the same, I would still like to have a coke," the stranger said plainly. The bartender smirked while pouring him a straight coke. As the cloaked figure held the glass close to his face, the people lingered in closer to see who the new-comer was. Pulling back the hood, he revealed his medium length spiky blonde hair and glowing blue eyes that teemed with Mako energy. The people, now fully staring at him, noticed a hilt that connected to a rather large broadsword.

"Hey, he's a SOLDIER," pointed out someone from the back of the bar.

"Not only did you take away our fish and the sun that used to shine on us, you caused all of this to happen to us," shouted another anonymous voice. "Now our mines are closes off, there's something so hideous in the ocean, THAT HORRIBLE explosion plagued our children with blindness and sickness, and then to top it off, to put the gaddam icing on the cake, you SOLDIERs have the audacity to barge in here and act smug. We should sacrifice him to the demon!"

"On fire!"

"YEAAA!" everyone shouted as they moved in closer with malicious intent in their eyes.

The spiky headed man dropped his head in exhaustion sighing to himself. "I don't want any trouble. I came here to have a drink, deliver a message and then I'm gone. You and your demon can find someone else to pick on."

"Leave the man be," said the bartender waving the crowd away. "He's a paying customer. If you want to offer a burning sacrifice to the demon of the night, I suppose you do that outside after the man is finish drinking." The crowd backed away giving the new-comer narrowed eyes. They returned to their tables sucking down alcohol and conversing about their day again. Some even commenced to mocking him behind his back as others mocked more audibly, but he ignored it while sipping on his coke. "So kid, you got a name?" asked the bartend as he cleaned out a glass.

"Cloud Strife," he said pulling out an envelope. He placed a folded piece of paper on the counter unraveling. It revealed a picture of a beautiful lady with a distant smile and cold green eyes. "Have you seen this woman?"

As the doors flung, the room suddenly became dead quiet. A glass filled with beer crashed into the floor as a collective gasp echoed throughout the room. Whoever stood in the doorway stole all the attention and all the air from the men's lungs. It was a beautiful woman wearing a low-cut red Chinese dress with cold green eyes. The crowd parted waves, waiting for her to grace the bar with her presence.

The bartender turned his head toward the woman in the doorway pointing and saying, "That's the woman you're looking for."

As she walked in, her high heels clapped against the ground causing all the heart rates to rise. She glanced around the room looking for someone who was her equal, but cold disdain met anybody who dared to look her directly in the eyes. Her brown hair was shoulder length and her cold glowing green eyes searched for a worthy man, but there was no one to be found. The spiky haired man glanced at her for a second, they caught each other's gaze, but he turned around and commenced to drinking his soda again seeming to be unaffected by her charm. She was beautiful, but if this was the woman he was told about, he had to be careful.

Cloud's indifferent attitude floored her. She was aroused by the new-comer's restraint and aloof attitude toward her, plus he was the most handsome man there. These combined traits were new to her. Men have fought in honor, loss their dignity, left their wives and abandoned their children all to be with her. She was a princess that needed to be accommodated. No man has ever shown restraint toward her and it wasn't going to start now.

"Hey there stranger," she smiled sitting next to him. All the eyes in the bar were focused on them, some of the expression were eyes of anger and envy toward Cloud for attracting the most beautiful girl in town. "The name's Diana, what's yours?" He continued to sit there, sipping his coke nonchalantly, trying his best not to look at her. Somehow he forgot his cool monologue that he prepared in front of the mirror yesterday. It was suppose to make him seem cool, tough and mysterious at the same time. He had to play it off. Silence was the best key until he could find his words again.

"His name is Cloud Strife," laughed the bartend amazed that she has taken genuine interest in the guy. "And he's been asking about about you too."

"Please, call me M-mr. S-strife," he said trying to look cool. This wasn't the best place for to show his hand. Remain cool and everything would be okay. "I'm on duty."

"Now don't get all professional on me," she smiled getting closer to his face almost inches away from his ear. "I'll have whatever he's having."

"You sure about that?" the bartender asked, but she consented by nodding her head. As he poured her a glass, she sipped it; afterwards she looked at the glass sideways as if it was weird or something.

"Taste kinda lite, Biff."

"That's because it's just a regular ole coke," he laughed almost as if he pulled a practical joke on her.

"I really don't drink ma'm," Cloud said politely, regaining his composure. "Especially when I'm on duty."

"Don't call me ma'm, it makes me feel old. Just loosen up honey. Don't you know all work and no play makes Jonny a _very_ dull boy?" she whispered in his ear.

"Who's Jonny?" he asked.

"O, there's Jonny's over there," the bartender answered pointing at the end of the counter. It was a tall, lanky man in a ragged suit. He looked like he slept there on the counter for a couple of days only to be awoken by the arrival of a drink.

"sUP," Jonny belched waving his hand then passing out falling backward out of his seat. Diana looked at them both as if they were severely disturbed.

"Um, ma'm, I have a letter and a message from Edge," Cloud said passing the envelope toward her.

"O, that's for me," she said in surprise. "I've been waiting for that for quite awhile. I have a letter of my own to give to you, but it's at my place. Your goin to have to take me home in order for me to give it to you, if that's quite alright with you," she insisted placing her silky soft hand over his passing the letter back to him with innocent yet seductive eyes hanging onto his arm. Looking into her cold glowing green eyes, instead of blood gushing out of his nose, he felt that something was off. Something about her seemed phony. She seemed as if she was hiding something, but whatever it was he couldn't placed his finger on it.

_This worked better than I thought. Shit, if Tifa saw this girl all over my arm, she would kill the both of us_. "Sure, ok," he said almost regretting the words coming from his lips. As she heard his consent, a state of glee overwhelmed her. She yanked him by the wrist almost dragging him out of the bar, but he managed to leave his tab on the counter.

"Lucky son of a bitch," the bartender whispered to himself in envy as they exited the door.

She held on tightly to his arm, her smooth soft face gently rubbing up and down against it, as they circled around the parking lot looking for her car. The air smelled of salt and machinery. Mosquitoes, moths and crickets were the only living creatures outside besides them. At this time of night, most people were asleep or getting ready for the early morning shift. He had to wait for the right time when she let go of his arm. "Um, I have a motorcycle I can take you…" She snatched him into a dark alley kissing him on his neck. "Um, what are you doing?" Cloud shrieked.

"If you have a girlfriend she doesn't have to know," she said giving him a deep kiss filled with a lot of tongue. "O, you're teeming with Mako energy! O, how I love SOLDIERS!"

Hearing those words somehow snapped him back to reality of why he was truly here. "Enough!" he sneered pushing her away causing her to slap against the brick wall.

"You hurt me, Cloud," she winced coyishly in pain, looking at him out the top of her eyes. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she wasn't truly hurt. "You hurt me reaaally deep, Cloud. Is this how you treat all your dates… is this how you treat women?" She placed both hands between her legs. Her every word seemed like an invitation to bed.

"Give up the façade!" he sneered. "I know who you are. The person who gave me this letter told me all about you. He gave me 20,000 Gil to find out what happened to you. I wondered why a child would have so much hate against such a beautiful woman. So, I asked him why and he told me something very interesting. He said that you were his mother and that you are being possessed by a demon. I heard reports about a demon going around butchering people at night. This letter was all the reason I needed to come up here. I don't know if you're that demon or not, I really don't care. All I know, is that you're not human." He couldn't prove this accusation, but he wanted to see what reaction he would get from her if he called her out.

"I'm a Bount," she said with a creepy smirk.

"What do you mean?" he inquired, but then sighed to himself. "I don't have time for games. I know you're not who you say you are. I'm going to ask you nicely. Show yourself."

"Don't you mean Zeige Dich?" she corrected.

_Did she just really sneeze_? "Uh, bless you?"

"Hahahahah, SHRED HIM TO PIECES, MEINE" she roared pointing her right hand at him. Suddenly, from the ground two giant-sized metallic hands grabbed his ankles restricting his movements. Without hesitation, Cloud gripped the hilt of his broadsword tearing it from the back of his cloak. However, before he could slash through the hands, she threw a flying guillotine at him wrapping it around his sword stabbing it into the ground. Using this opening to her advantage, she unsheathed her rapier at her side and used the chains as a catapult lunging herself at him. Moving his head to the left, he dodged her attack and came around with an attack of his own, a head-butt to the nose and mouth. This attack slapped her into the pavement back first in a dead halt. As she lay there holding her bloody nose, Cloud slashed through the hands that were gripping his feet. A loud bellow echoed throughout the neighborhood and the large metallic hands disappeared.

"I'm sorry," she pleaded coughing up blood. "Please forgive me. I wasn't strong enough. Please don't harm my children."

"You are that demon, aren't you?" he roared getting closer. _Damn, what type of ruthless demon is this?_

"LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH, MEINE!"

Suddenly, the ground begun to shake and the street lights flickered on and off. Diana writhed on the ground convulsing as a dark aura surrounded her. As he sat up on her knees, the back of her dress ripped revealing a slight hunch. Her arms muscles bulged and large veins emerged everywhere on her body. Cloud stared at her in amazement watching this transformation occurred. Without giving it another second thought, he charged in for an overhead strike, but her dark aura exploded into a blinding flash of fiery red ki. Cloud held his eyes trying to shield them from light, but as the it cleared, what he saw made him draw back in a defensive stance. She was a fully realized half-demon now. Her body was that of a quadruped with glowing red eyes, slender elongated arms, dagger-like claws, and a long contorted demonic face. This sight made him tense.

Before he could blink, the creature flash-stepped, appearing in front of him landing a haymaker slash, but Cloud blocked it with the flat of his sword. However, the strength behind it was so fierce that the mere force of it sent him crashing through the brick wall behind him. Without realizing it, Cloud was in the bar again, the bartender mouth agape. Curious eyes turned into eyes of shock and surprise. Some were so juiced up they just looked at him, laughed and went back to drinking and talking. The rest, that were still cognitive, fled the bar. Cloud tossed off his torn cloak revealing two more swords on his back, one facing upward and the other upside-down. He unsheathed the sword facing upwards and fused it with the one in his hand. The creature leaped inside through the giant hole in the wall hissing and screeching. Cloud only replied with a Blade Beam, a projectile slash of energy, but her arms grew into large metallic ones blocking the blast. This attack carved a massive gash into the floor utterly destroying the right half of the bar. The attack still collided her into the brick wall burying the half demon under the rubble. Cloud rushed through the hole in the wall pulling her out of the rubble by her foot. He slammed her against the bricks then tossed her into the ground. As she staggered to her feet, another Blade Beam met directly into her chest sending her flying out of the dark alley and crashing into an anonymous grey Chevy Camaro denting it in half. Coincidentally, the owner was walking to his car when he saw it almost cut in half. When Cloud came around the corner the owner lashed out in anger.

"Hey, asshole!" the man shouted not fully realizing what he just saw. "Look at what you've done to my car!"  
"STEP BACK, sir," Cloud said with extreme urgency pointing his sword at him. The man yelped like a scared cat falling over himself trying to get away. Cloud pulled her from the crevices of the dent and dragged her back into the dark alley by her hair. Tossing her in front of him, he planted his foot on her chest and the blade at her throat. The demon part of her dissipated leaving a young woman barely able to hold her tattered clothes intact.

"Who are you?" he sneered. "Where did you come from?"

"Please, if you have any mercy in your heart," she pleaded. "KILL ME, PLEASE!"

"I'm not falling for any of your tricks, demon?" he sneered, readying himself for the kill shot. "Start talking, now?"

"Please listen to me," she cried with tears streaming down her face and blood running down her mouth. "I don't have much time. In that envelop you will see a picture of me, but it not me... it is me, but it isn't me at the same time."

"What the hell are you talking about," Cloud said backing away, but still pointing his sword at her.  
"My best friend sent me that picture to give to her son. It was made to look like me to conceal her identity. Once it leaves the universe and touches her son's hands, it will turn into it's real form. You must get it to him. It is more important than anything you can imagine."

"Look, women... demon... whoever you are." He sighed to himself rubbing his eyes in frustration. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"_I'm sorry, Diana can't come out and play." _The demon was in full control now.

"Where did you come from?"  
"_Far away… a land very far away_."

"WHERE?"

"I have faith in you. Tell my son I'm sorry," she smiled. She was fighting the demon inside of her with all she had left, but then she yelped as she felt something biting down on her right shoulder. Suddenly, Cloud's sword was slapped away into the wall beside him. As she looked at it, she notice many small indentions on her shoulder and the back of it too, but when blood steam out from it, she knew it could only be one entity who could've done it; the demon, Meine. Cloud looked at her with a narrowed expression not noticing what was occurring before his very eyes. "His name is Gabriel. You have to get the letter to him. It is the only way to…" Suddenly, her body lifted into the air bending and twisting in an unnatural way. And just like that she was gone… vanished… no eaten. Cloud gasped in surprise as he saw her body suddenly and utterly destroyed then vanish in a pool of blood. As he looked up, he noticed something that unnerved the hell out of him, an invisible toothy grin only made visible by the blood dripping from its mouth.

"_She's a chatty bitch, isn't she_," chided the bloody teeth. "_But, i guess even dogs have their purposes. If it wasn't for her and that little fight you gave us, I wouldn't have the strength to walk out on my bare feet. Too bad you can't see them, hahahahahahahahaha!_"

"Who are you, demon?" Cloud said holding his sword in a defensive position. "Another one of Shinra's experiments that got loose?"

"_Boy, you are a dumb-shit, aren't you. You have no clue on what's going on do you? It doesn't matter. I must eat you now. I am hungry_." As Cloud truly looked at the demon, he noticed that it's teeth were part of a mask. He wanted to fight the monster with all his might, but somewhere deep inside he knew that this wasn't the time or the place for that. This whole area is a small town in a tightly confined area. There're some left over military strength, but no soldiers or SOLDIERs to operate them especially since after the giant explosion.

Unfortunately, Cloud didn't have the luxury choice of choosing not to fight. He was in a tightly confined area as well, plus the demon was totally invisible except for the blood that poured from his toothy grin. Cloud sighed to himself as he realized there was no way out of this fight. He couldn't let that demon live, not after what he did to that woman. So he gripped the last sword on his back and held his hand on the hilt. He looked at the monster trying to anticipate his movements, but the demon just stood there like a smiling statue. This made him sweat a little. Throwing caution to the wind, Cloud charged at him, pulling his other sword from the wall, dragging it against the ground. However, before he could fused the swords, a grenade round was fired at the demon's mouth exploding into a flash of white light blinding them on contact. Emanating from the explosion was a debilitating high pitch sound wave that crippled them both causing their muscles to lock up and their joints to stiffen. Before Cloud could collapse, a pair of arms wrapped around his stomach and whisked him high in the air. By the way the wind blew and the speed of his ascent, Cloud calculated that he had to be at least 500ft high. Pulling him inside, he opened his eyes and noticed that everything looked hazy. He had no idea in hell where he was, but wherever it was made his stomach turn inside out. The way the vehicle moved around in a circular motion, ascending and descending vertically; by his guess, he was probably in a helicopter or some hovering-type craft.

"_Clod, a-areyoualright?_" a familiar voice whispered mixed in with a horrible ringing noise. His ear pulsated with pain all the way down into the core. He could barely hear what he was thinking, let alone words coming from a mouth.

"Huh?" he said the ringing dying down just a little. He tried to focus on the voice, but all he saw was the blurry outline of a girl.

"Cloud, are you alright?" the voice said holding some type of a warm damp cloth under his ears. As he looked at her hands, he noticed that they and the cloths were covered in blood. "I think you over did it, Cid." In the mist of the white haze, he saw emerald eyes that connected to a cute familar face and thick brown hair drawn back into a plait.

"Aerith, is that you?" he muttered.

"No, it's me," said a strikingly familiar voice. The haziness covered by a white shadow started to dissipate and things started to come in clear.

"Tifa?" he assumed, but heard an annoyed sigh.

"No, me!" she barked then sighed to herself. "Let me give you a hint. I'm 5'2, have short thick black hair and I'm the sexiest and the most deadliest femme fatale you every saw."

"I give up."

"It's me Yuffie, you blinded bat," she growled.

After rubbing his eyes, he finally realized that it was Yuffie holding him in her arms and Cid piloting the helicopter. "O, it's you."

"Who were you expecting?" she growled. "You should be grateful we saved your hide when we did."

"Ugh, what happened?"

"Ha, three minute and 7.5 seconds! That's a record," Cid smiled. "You didn't believe that it could work, but guess what. '_It's works now_."

"Yea, but you fired the Party Pooper too early," she scorned. "You just about blinded and deafen him in the process." Cid glanced over at Cloud and noticed that blood was streaming from his ears and his face was slight blue. Blood started to leak from his nose as Yuffie ran to get some more galls. At this point even Cid couldn't deny it had some major side effects when he saw that Cloud's blood was blue, but then changed red after a couple of seconds. Even his eyes started to cry a crimson red.

"O, my bad," he apologized. "Sorry about the theatrics. We couldn't let the hollow or anybody else see us. But you have to admit that that was pretty cool."

"Said the guy at the other end of the gun," he said feeling a little lightheaded, but when he heard the word 'hollow', Cloud rushed to the window and saw where the light had clear and noticed that an invisible force was destroying the little town. "Ugh, we have to do something. We can just let that demon roam free."

"We have to," Cid said with a grim voice. "The entire town was compromised. There's nothing we can do."

"Compromised? What the hell are you talking about? We just can't let innocent people die!"

"We have no choice, Cloud," Yuffie sighed. "That entire town was overwhelmed with demons. All of them are dead now. The people you were talking to were demons in disguise, plotting how they were going to eat your flesh."

Cloud swallowed hard as his skin turned even paler. "H-how you guys find out about something like that?"  
"We gathered alot of information while trying to track you down," she said, pointing out to her scars for Cloud to see. Looking at her more closely, her noticed that she was covered in ointment and bandages and her skin was red as an apple. "Some of our sources say that it was an experiment gone horribly awry and someone sent it to this world to see what would happen."

"Sent to this world?" Cloud remember what Diana said before that demon could fully take her over. "You guys are being deathly vague," he sighed to himself. It wasn't like he didn't understanding their point of view. As much as he hated it, he was out the loop. "Just start from the beginning, you know, pretend like you're explaining this to somebody whose been away for a while. A matter of fact, don't pretend."

"I really don't know where to begin," she laughed nervously.

"How about for starters," he said with a serious expression. "What is this all about? You guys needed me for a reason, if not, ya'll wouldn't have yanked me out of that fight like tha. Plus, I thought I went off the radar when I decided to take on this assignment and I was doing a pretty good job too, or so I thought. So that meant ya'll had to go extra out-of–your-way to find me. Did something happen since I been gone?"

Yuffie and Cid looked at each other with grim expressions thinking about how to place their words carefully. Suddenly, Barrett appeared from the darkness, startling him a bit. "They have Tifa," Barrett said with downcast eyes not able to look directly into his. Cloud was half expecting the rest of his friends to burst of nowhere laughing, telling him that this was all a joke, putting his mind at ease. At least that would clear some of the mental clutter, but Barrett was cover in cuts and his skin was charred as well.

"Who the hell do you mean 'they'?" he said trying to grip the situation.

"A man in a mask and red kimono," he answered. "He betrayed us... Tifa left us there. She wasn't herself. We were caught off guard... it was only suppose to be a pit stop-"

"Gaddammit! If you don't stop speaking in riddles!" he interupted, punching the thin metal wall placing a big dent causing the helicopter to suddenly veer to the right. "What the hell were you guys doing that was so gaddam dangerous?"

"We were attacking the enemy base, but we weren't attacking… it was a decoy… it happened too quick… it was supposed to be a in-and-out mission… but… uh… um… We were set up!" Yuffie said holding Barrett's shoulder as he sat down in a sit behind him.

"Set up? By who?"

They all seemed grim when he asked the question. Barrett sat down in a seat behind him. sighing. "It was Cat Seith. He separated us so he could take us down one by one and when we were at our weakest, he planted a bomb to make sure it would finish us off. When we tried to save Tifa she was being dragged away into their ship and thats when the man in the mask and the red kimono shot out an arrow that detonated the bombs that were planted destroying the entire Gold Saucer."

Cloud looked out into the window, in a distance state of mind. He trailed off past the Junon and across time when Cat Seith first kidnapped Marlene to get their attention and then sacrificing himself to so they could survive, but then he realized something that made his eyes widen. How could he be so stupid. Cat Seith was a robot. Sacrifice meant nothing to him. "So after all of what we went through, he decided to betray us." But why? What was the reason for this? Something didn't seem right, but since he had no proof, he kept silent.

"I know it's hard to believe, I barely believe it myself, but Cat Seith made his intentions clear that day. He's raging a war against us. Whatever his reasons my be, we have to save Tifa, even if it means... So are you ready for another adventure?"

"Don't have much of a choice," he sighed to himself sitting down on the seat behind him holding his head in frustration. The thought of her being held captive made a knot form in his gut, but he was ready. Whatever he had to do to get her back, her was prepared to do. If he had to claw his way over a 1000 enemies hand over fist, there was no stopping the chain of events that were set into motion. He reached into his pocket and felt an envelop. It was the same one he tried to give to Diana, but he forgot she'd given it back. "By the way, have any of you guys heard of a boy named Gabriel?"

The name seemed familar, but he couldn't place a finger on it. Then again, there was this kid named Able something something, but Cloud didn't know anything about him. "Nope never heard of him. If it makes you feel any better, we have an idea where he may be heading next."

"Where?"

"Well, I hope your astrophysics are up to par, because where we have to go is to a land behind the stars."


End file.
